Chapter 7

“Well looks who’s here.” A rather high and effeminate voice called out far too loudly. I opened my eyes and dread filled me. “No, I just got everything going good. I was even asleep in bed, how the hell did I die?” I just covered my eyes. “Oh please, stop being so overly dramatic already. You didn’t die and you can go back to playing a harem king in a little while.” I looked over at him and had a look of distain. “I know I said had fun, but really? Almost half that town will be on maternity leave in a few months.” I sat up and nodded. “Tell me about it. I thought maybe five or six would go through with that kind of thing, but it’s like they all stopped birth control at the same time. I was a little nervous about being a father, and now I have so many on the way it kind of numbed me from all that shock.”

He let out a laugh and then a heavy sigh. “Well anyway, I was under review for the last few jobs and your name came up as a red flag. I don’t know exactly why, but I was told to get you in here ASAP. So how about you stand up so we can go.” I stood up and a door appeared out of nowhere. He opened the door and we walked into another white space with a desk and two chairs. We both sat down and a light formed across from us. “You were Mitchel Davis?” I nodded. “You died saving a young girl from one of your classes correct?” I nodded again. “Yes.” The light seemed to wiggle. “And for this you were given a class A transfer to a level L world. There you have already accelerated its development by two percent with social, cultural, and magical changes.” I took a breath. “Yes I have.” I felt like it was staring at me. “I have done my best not to create advancements beyond my original world’s middle ages technologically. As to magic, I am new to this form of science so I do my best to limit it’s progression as well. I understand that too many people able to do what I can could very well cause a collapse of currency, wars for technological superiority, as well as topple governments.”

“Go on.” I took a breath. “Thankfully while doing my best to not be discovered I was. This world understands transfers to some degree, and have a superstition around them. Those that understood me for who I am have already set up a system to protect me while slowly spreading out any advancements as natural discoveries. Not just at the local level, but also at the governmental level.” The orb just sat there. “I am one of the entities that oversee your new home. When I learned another transplant had been dropped on it after only one hundred years I had to call you in. The last class A transfer threw the world into chaos which also stunted it’s natural growth.” I guess my expression showed my thoughts. “I take it you noticed?”

I nodded. “Even with magic there to make up for many technological developments something as rudimentary as water heaters, and baths should not have been lost. In my world, at this level, such things had existed centuries at the overall level this world is at. Simple plant fiber paper for example was at least being developed for centuries and widely used at this stage.” “Hmmm. It seems you understand your world’s history quite well.” I nodded. “I worked part of my life to be a general educator of children in my old world. While my knowledge is not in depth, it was quite broad.”

“You do understand that you are on the brink of a major social development correct?” I nodded. “Yes, by elevating women to equality in a male dominated profession it could have very far reaching effects. I have tried to hold back on this, but something tells me that it is past time for this to happen. Not just in the one area I am focusing on, but as an overall development. At this point in my worlds development the European nations had elevated women professionals a little higher. By removing females from so many professions you lose a major factor in social, technological, and possible magical field development.” Out of nowhere a loud bark sounded. “You get it! Dividing the sexes only cuts a worlds development in half!” I was shocked at the emotions that were pouring out at me. “Well if females here are identical to females on my world, then they have a very opposite and complimentary set of natural skill sets. Without that kind of balance a society actually would retard rather than develop.” Another bark.

“Well Mitchel, or Mikael, I will approve of your presence there. If you keep your change level below eight percent I think the world will be able to easily survive. I will be keeping an eye out, but I have a feeling that you and I are of like mind. This world needs to be elevated somehow and your previous knowledge base makes you the perfect person to ease those changes into the world. Thank you for coming.” The glow looked away. “As for your review, something tells me you knew this would happen so I will make note of it in your files. Excellent Job.” We stood up and the “room” faded away.

A very pleased sound came from my “friend”. “Well I’m sorry to have scared the crap out of you over all this, but as you can see it was all for a good cause. Just do me one really big favor?” I looked at him. “Don’t turn that army of super soldiers you call your children into an army to take over the world. I really needed a win on my record and you can still screw that up.” Then it hit me. “Super soldiers?” He covered his moth and gave me big eyes. “Oops, did I say that? Just forget I mentioned anything ok?” Then the world grew dark for a moment before I opened my eyes and saw the stereotypical plank ceiling. I felt so warm on each side of me and I realized I was still in bed with my two loves. I swore to myself that this was to be the only time the overseer would ever need to fear anything I was doing. I didn’t want to screw this world up, just help it up slowly. I wanted my children to see the world as the great world I saw when I looked around. If I can nudge it here and there to make it better for them, I sure as hell will do my best without turning it upside down. Also building an army is horrible for a world. Assassination of key personnel is far more effective.

A few days later, with my spirits lifted up, the Kelton corps of engineers left town and headed to the surrounding villages. When we arrived in the first village the elderman came to me and bowed his head. “Sir Mikael your shelter assured that for the first time in my memory we had no deaths due to winter. Between those, the expanded harvests due to the “terracing” of our hills, and all the supplies we bought we will all live to see another year.”

After that it was easy to go home by home and begin the improvements. Old houses were carefully dismantled and much of the supplies were then reused in making the people each a new home. Once that was done the addition of a cellar and the creation of a tunnel system was started on. A building for the storage and drying of firewood was also added with a connection to the vault system as well. Alfreed and I kept a close eye on our group of women and made sure each did their share and showed off their skill well. At the end of our visit the women were a little flustered when so many people, especially men, treated them with respect and gave them overwhelming thanks for all their labors.

This cycle of work and development replayed over and over and by the time we returned to our village everyone was far surer of their overall skill level no matter what the guilds said. The moms among us were glad to be home and even happier to see that their children were happy and healthy. After normalizing being home, the salt mine was next on the list of developments to be made. Our previous plans were scrapped as the women wanted to live in town rather than stay at the mine. That meant we would build a “processing center” for the purification of salt, some storage buildings, and most importantly a fortification around the whole mine area. Salt was a very pricy item worth its weight in copper, and even silver at times. With what we had, and the stock of pure salt we planned on having, security was a must. This took two weeks, even with the help of the lumber mill making the gates for us, and when we were done it looked great.

Now we got started on actually taking salt out of the ground. That was actually the easiest part and one the ladies had no problem with. Salt is a rock after all. The hard part, and what showed the higher skill from those that needed to develop more, was the purification method. We already had large “drying racks” for air drying wet salt crystals so we began our assembly line there.

A block would be brought over from the mine and laid in the pan. One of the ladies would then begin the laborious process of removing all mineral content other than salt from the block. Like when I taught Catlin how to feel for ores in the ground, I taught the women how to seek out the minerals in the block and pull them out. It was hard for some in the beginning, but it quickly grew faster and more natural to all of them. What started as a light tan block of mineral salts became a pile of oxides and other minerals around a pure white block.

These blocks were then taken to a storage house where large stone bins were filled with crushed or rock salt. We also had bins filled with off white salt as well for those who wanted a cheaper salt that would be used only for salting meat in a barrel. I sent Balor and his wife off to the capital on a buying with only a few guards to buy a good supply of heavy cloths sacks. This way we could sell the salt in bags which filled a wagon a bit easier and cheaper than barrels. I sent them with a letter telling the baron that our salt project was starting and to let me know any estimates on how much he would be requesting. When Balor came back I saw that he had far more sacks than I asked for, and he told me that these were all supplied by the baron, and that I would need them.

Two weeks later a wagon train showed up along with a purchasing official. It seemed that because of a storm, and the unrest still going on in the Viscountcy the national supply of salt was taking a hit, and was raising the prices kingdom wide. In the capital there was even salt hoarding going on and the baron hoped to alleviate some of that fear with us. I showed him the grades of salt and he looked amazed. “How do you get the cave salt so pure?” he asked and I explained our purification process. Ok I lied through my teeth telling him we dissolved it, filtered out the impurities, and then sun dried it. After tasting both grades of salt he accepted every grain we could produce. When it came time to pay he offered me gold at the current price of salt. I explained to him that when we made the contract with the baron agreed we would go by the price set at the time of the contract. The purchasing agent looked at me like I was crazy to refuse the money but said he would leave that to me and the baron to work out.

After they had left I had all the female mages assemble for me. I then laid out small stacks of gold coins for each of them as a share of the profits. They walked up took the stack and smiled for a few moments, just weighing them. Then each of them set the stacks back down and smiled at me. “Use it for the town Sir. So far you have supplied us and our families with everything we need and more without asking for a dime. At first we thought it was charity, but then we noticed everyone here is like that. Everyone works together here, and shares together. You take things to sell in the capital, and when you come back everyone only has to put in some work to pay for what they get. Everyone earns everything they get, and it’s like a giant group fund. Well we are now a part of this town, if you want us, and so we say just put that in the bank for goods from the capital.”

With the situation being what it was, the salt miners decided to expand. They rebuilt the storage facility and began to work a lot more in producing either pure, or slightly purified salt to fill the needs of the Barony. If the baron decided to sell it all outside the barony, that was not our decision. Even at an accelerated rate of consumption, the caves below us were so extensive that it would take decades, if not a century to exploit fully. This is why something like a salt mine is actually a gold mine to any community.

While we were not up on current events outside of our little town, the world has a way of letting you know what is going on. Someone somewhere leaked where the salt came from and soon we were getting traders coming to us for salt. Without even opening the gates we explained that this mine was the property of the Baron and as such we were not allowed to sell a single grain. When people tried to sneak in and open the gates from inside, even with extensive warnings, well it was agreed that it seemed the ground seemed to open up and swallow them.

Life was going pretty good in our town, our supplies of salt to the barony seemed to be easing the crisis as salt supplies began to comeback, and life was quite peaceful. I loved watching my wives develop, though so many waddling around tickled a very odd bone in my head. Something about knowing so many women love you so much as to willingly go through something like this really lets a man know his worth.

Doc came to me and asked if we could plan a trip to Kalador soon. When I asked why he looked at me like I was an idiot. “Do you think I carry enough supplies for this many pregnant women? How about the herbs and charms for newborns?” Then he went on a rant of things I had no idea about, mostly because he had never had to deal with so many pregnant women at the same time in his life. He also went off on needing help with preparing all the medicines, and how he was nearly out of shaving cream since it seemed almost every woman in the area was now using it, and he was also out of pregnancy charms since each one had to be tailored to the woman using it, and there was a major influx of women asking for them. “Honestly the only decrease in my stress level these days is that some of the new ladies have training as midwives. I am sharpening their skills, and giving them better training because I have a feeling that when the first one drops, it will cause an avalanche of women going into labor.”

After I told my wives it seemed like all the women in my family were urging me to go. While the rate of both mother and child surviving childbirth was much higher than that of the same time period in my old life, taking every precaution was needed. So a new wagon train was started and we headed to Kalador a week later. The trip was fun and educational since everyone but Balor was a stone mage and I worked on them developing their mineral sensing skill during the trip. Doc stayed at home since he didn’t want to leave a single one of the expecting mothers to have cause to worry.

At the main market we were able to full Doc’s order and then some. The medical herb area was overseen by the physician’s guild and when they saw what I was buying I told them about the post winter baby boom and they helped me out. I made sure to buy extra of everything, and a few new charms were available that Doc might not have been aware of.

I stocked up on new crops that were just starting to come in and then I hit a bit of a motherlode. See I love mushrooms, but the idea of trusting what we found in the woods seemed a little too big a risk for me. Not to mention I had never seen them for sale anywhere before. The small shop I had walked into though specialized in domesticated mushroom that I knew very well from just one look. All of them were cave grown locally and the sight of dried portabellas made me drool. Dried white button mushrooms were in a large jar, and even clumps of shitakes were there. I asked the owner about them, and when I said I was from the barony he happily began teaching me how to grow them.

Mary came to me as we were all looking around the shopping district looking for anything interesting and she seemed especially excited. “Husband, you have to come see what I found.” I followed her into a little hole in the wall store and I knew what she was so excited about. The walls were covered in glowing stones. I don’t mean phosphorescent, but real glowing stones that had to be magical in nature. A little old lady was sitting in the corner with a sly smile on her face. “Bet you haven’t seen anything like this before have you?” I shook my head and wondered how expensive it would be to just buy the whole store.

The lady stood up and walked over looking proud of her shop. “My husband was a stone mage and he discovered how to make these little beauties.” She said handing me a glowing cone. “All you have to do to make them really put out some light is by getting someone with magic to run some power through them. The more powerful the magic, the brighter and longer the stone will give light.” I handed the stone to Mary, as if I didn’t have magic, and soon the stone was giving off light like a sixty watt bulb. “Oh you must be a stone mage, I haven’t seen one glow like that since my husband.” Mary nodded and closed her eyes. “This isn’t just one stone, it’s a whole bunch of minerals mixed together.”

The little lady smiled softly. “Yes my husband was something of a maverick. The stone mages never gave him his due though. They told him that kind of thing was a novelty and to stop making them. He never did though, as you can see. I lost him a few years ago and don’t have the heart to close the shop.” I looked around. “Is this all he ever made?” She shook her head. “Oh, I have a ton of them in the back, but they aren’t shaped or anything.” I nodded as I looked around. “What would you do if you weren’t in the shop?” She smiled at me. “I have three strong children with families of their own. They tell me to close the place and come live with them, but I don’t want to be a burden on them.” I smiled at the love in her voice. “Can I see how much stones you have?” She nodded and took me into the back. She was right, she had maybe half a wagon load here.

I looked at the price she had on a large stone and then thought about the rest. At first I thought about giving her a fair price, with a little discount for quantity, and then thought again. With the funds I had, all you can do with them is make other people’s lives better. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my wallet. “So how much do you want for your entire stock?” I asked and she looked at me like I was joking. “I’m very serious, how much for all of it including the raw stones?” She sat heavily and tried to balance between greed and survival. “How about two hundred gold and it’s all yours.” That would only be two platinum pieces. I paid more for undies.

I opened my wallet and began placing one white gold piece after another on the counter. The woman’s eye bulged out of her head. Once I had a stack of ten I put my wallet back and then took the stone in Mary’s hand. I felt the stone, felt the synthesis involved, and then began shaping it. When I was done I was holding what looked like a sleeping infant swaddled in a blanket. I handed it to her, and added the ten coins. “Your husband was a genius and an artist. I will take everything here, and pay you what the stones are truly worth. I made that because I want you to know that this is the birth of a new magic in the world, and your husband was the father of it.” Tears began to form in her wrinkled eyes. “What was his name?” I asked and she smiled while never taking her eyes off the figure I made. “His name was Orzan.” She said quietly. “Well one day Orznium lamps will light the way of the world in darkness. From the darkest mines, to a child’s room his light will fight back the unknown and make the unsafe safe.”

She set the coins on the counter and held the light to her chest. “How will that happen?” she asked and Mary spoke up. “This is Sir Mikael of Kelton. He has connections from palaces to throne rooms, and as you can see he is a stone mage. He is also starting a school for stone mages, so this crafting will be taught to stone mages all through our barony. One day soon people will see these lights filling palaces and you know what will happen then right?” She nodded. “My husband’s name will live forever.” Mary went around the counter as the old woman seemed to lean too far. She held the woman as she cried in both release and joy.

I knew I could make these for myself, but the creator and his family deserved to profit off of it. Call it buying a patent, but I wasn’t about to rip off a genius or his family.

Speaking of panties, I did go back to my friend and her shop to discover that she had taken the money she made and flipped it into all the things we talked about. When I walked into the shop and asked to see the manager the lady came out of the back and then she threw herself into my arms with a hug. “Oh you wonderful and magnificent man.” She cried out as I held her in a bit of shock. She let me go but her eyes were huge and her smile radiant. “Thanks to you almost every woman of status has kept my seamstresses working their fingers to the bone making our brassieres.” She pointed to the store and smiled. “Everything we talked about that day I made, and since then I can’t keep any of it in stock.”

Then she noticed I was with a woman and calmed down a little. “I would like to introduce my wife Mary.” The store owner looked her up and down and then smiled at her. “How would you like to be the first in your town to wear a “bra” that your husband devised?” Mary looked at me and saw I was excited so she went to the back and I waited. When she came back out after about ten minutes Mary had a very curious looking face. “So how is it?” I asked and she smiled. “It’s like someone is holding my breasts up.” Is all she said for a minute. “The chest strip is a little different, and the neck strap will take a little time to get used to, but overall it is comfortable and supportive. I love it.”

The owner said that rather than create a lot of different cup sizes, she took the idea of a corset and applied it to the cups. I looked over her design and wondered why they didn’t do this before. I looked at how the cup was devised and had a thought. “Could you make this so the cup can be fully opened?” The owner looked at me as if I had a naughty thought. “That way women who are breast feeding a baby can just open it up, feed the child, and then tuck them back in. They continue to have support even after childbirth.” The wheels were turning in her head and she smiled even more. “That is genius.” I raised my hand. “Or you could make the whole cup into a flap.” I drew her a picture of a conventional nursing bra and she almost kissed me. “How did you think of something like this?” she asked and I explained that my other wives were pregnant and I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible.

Well once again I was going to be leaving Kalador with boxes of the new undies for all my women, the village, and the new arrivals. Not just from her store, but her partner stores as well. Since we were going to be in town for a few days, she was planning to have as many of the new maternity bras delivered as quickly as possible. After we left the store and kept shopping Mary took me aside for a moment and kissed me on the cheek. “You may not understand but this new halter will greatly improve women’s lives. I can really feel the difference, and I don’t feel like my breasts are being squished. It’s hard to describe how free I feel right now.” She wiggled her chest and smiled. “I don’t know how I will contain myself with this on because all I can think of is of you cupping them from behind.” Well there is an image I didn’t need so far from our bedroom.

No other surprises presented themselves before it was time to leave, though I do feel sorry for a lot of seamstresses in that town. When I left there were enough nursing bras that most of the new mothers would have at least one. The owner told me they took all the ones that were ready to go to market back and had them all altered. I made sure that not only did I pay for all of it, I asked her to give a little extra to everyone concerned.

The journey home was a giant kiss fest for me as all the women, even Balor’s wife, kept thanking me for their new bras. A bumpy ride at the best of time was a chore for women on the trip, but on the way home it seemed each day was better than the one before with this new support.

When we made it home the women called for the new products from Kalador be opened first. Then with a few light stones, they all headed into the central vault for some apparel shopping. Doc began taking charge of the medical stock and I showed him all the new products. I also gave him a ton of notes given to me from the medical guild that he was very thankful for. It seemed the Capital doctor’s guild was a bit behind the times, but that isn’t surprising if they are anything like the stone mages guild.

Almost an hour later women began to emerge from the vault and all seemed to have a very curious smile. We men were more than a little surprised as none of them seemed to be able to stop waggling their breasts around and giggling. As some emerged, the ones who were watching the children were urged to go see what was new. When Bethany came out she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house, and then the bedroom. After a very passionate kiss she looked into my eyes and bit her lip. “You are a very interesting man my husband. This new halter is amazing and every woman who has one will praise your name.” She lifted her dress up and let me see her in her new undies and now I was the one getting the gifts. “These are so perfect as well. Like the bra they feel like your partner is cupping you in a very intimate way.” She dropped her dress, gave me a kiss, and ran out of the room. I sighed and understood I created these monsters and would no doubt be reaping the whirlwind later.

The next few days were rather unproductive in our little town. Everyone seemed very happy, but had little energy. When I went to the salt works I was welcomed by everyone and few of those welcomes bordered on sexual harassment in the workplace. While the price of salt had gone down, our orders were still very high for the white salt. It seemed few stores could keep it in stock, and when it ran out at the baron’s store, people were buying it from each other to keep the customer demand met. This meant the barony was making frequent trips to see us.

The girls were very busy doing this and as they worked harder, they also worked a lot faster. The quality was the same, but it’s just that sensing the minerals was becoming much easier for them. They also noticed the change as well and were filling the reserves quickly in their desire to be able to do it as fast as I did. Part of me wanted to take them to the valley and see them grow even more, but that was only one step from metal smithing and that was dangerous.

Now to the manufacturing of the glow stones. Once I knew the sound of the ingredients, I knew I could look for them myself. Catlin and Mary asked to help and so we went to the valley to see what we could find. During our searching we found more deposits of precious metals, but left them resting as we had little use for such things at the moment. Oddly the minerals we needed most seemed to be all but missing in the little valley, so we started to look elsewhere and were surprised the how common some of them were in the surrounding area. This gave me even more proof that this valley was something other than erosion.

As we walked along we pulled ball after ball of materials out of the ground to add to our hand cart. Catlin was quite methodical about her search, while Mary seemed to dance along while pulling just as many mineral deposits out. I asked Mary what made her so happy and she smiled at me. “I’m finally the person I always hoped I could be. I’ve worked so hard all my life with so little to show for it, Catlin can tell you, but now I really understand everything.” She spun around a few times before grabbing Catlin’s hands in hers and pulled her friend along. “I thought being a stone mage was work. I thought you had to fight stone and people to win.” She laughed and even Catlin was starting to get into the same mood. “But you taught me I was completely wrong and it makes me happy. Stone, metal, the whole world is singing to me and all I have to do is dance along with it. Out here, with the people I love the most, I can let myself be free and dance with the whole world.”

Well that explained a lot. I knew I could hear stone and metal, but only when I was listening, maybe I should take a cue from Mary and try listening harder. Then I remembered when I came out here with Jessa and I did listen to the world, the problem was I let myself begin to lose myself to that music. “Mary feel free to listen to the tune, but don’t dance too far.” She looked at me in question. “It’s very easy to dance away from everything listening to that tune. Little by little you can lose yourself to the songs, and leave everything else behind.” She swirled over to me and pulled me into a kiss. “I knew that, but I can’t leave you or Catlin behind. I have so much I want to do with you my husband, so much I want to be to you, that I only fear that if I live to be a hundred years old, it will only scratch the surface.”

She kept being happy, and I was very happy for her. Catlin came over to me and wrapped her arms around mine as we walked. “I can hardly believe this is the Mary I once knew. I was new to the capital and still thinking being a stone mage was going to be an adventure. She was there when I learned that in the capital being a stone mage meant being relegated to just pushing dirt and stone. She kept me from despair by telling me to keep going and maybe one day it would all pay off. She was my backbone, and the courage for a lot of women there. I think the real Mary was behind some very thick walls and it took my magic man to break them down and let my friend be herself again.”