A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 383 Relocation, and then Settling Down

After the new orders were issued, refugees from the surrounding areas were gradually driven to gather at Bart's camp. Now he had to manage thousands of people, a dense mass roaming the camp.

"You can do it, Bart," he took a deep breath and began preparing to appease the displaced people and facilitate their relocation.

First, he divided everyone into groups. After everyone had packed their belongings, he had them gather according to their place of origin. The guards raised flags of different colors, and Barthes shouted through a megaphone: "Conti, under the white flag! Calais, under the blue flag! Those whose hometown doesn't have a corresponding flag, go where there are fewer people!"

Allowing migrants to continue migrating would cause panic and flight, so dividing them according to their place of origin would make them feel like they had found an "organization" and had a sense of belonging, thus stabilizing their emotions.

However, it was also unacceptable to allow the villagers to completely unite and cause trouble together. So, the next step was to form groups of about twenty people each, allowing families and fellow villagers to be grouped together. Once the groups were formed, members of other groups were not allowed to communicate freely. The formed groups were immediately taken to the edge of the camp and separated from each other by soldiers.

Finally, there was the issue of communication. Even though they were divided into groups, there were still thousands of people scattered around. If everyone came directly to Bart or the commander with something on their mind, addressing him as "Sir," wouldn't that create chaos? So, he asked each group to appoint a group leader and give them a wooden tag to wear around their neck. Only those with the tag could leave their group and report problems within their group to the guards or Bart.

Although it was a simple two-step grouping process, it dragged on until almost noon. When it was time to eat, they took out food and continued to calm the refugees: "Don't rush, don't rush, you can only eat after you're in your groups! Group leaders will collect their group's food. Today there's bread and milk porridge; no one will get any without their identification tags!"

Bread was a long-awaited treat. For the past few days, the kingdom had been keeping these people afloat by serving porridge. Now that they needed to regain their strength to move around, they finally had black bread to eat, and even the porridge had milk added.

It's just ordinary food, but it makes you almost cry while eating it.

As Barthes had planned, he also utilized the resources of his own chamber of commerce, arranging several large carts. Injured or disabled individuals were allowed to ride in these carts. This act greatly pleased the displaced people. Barthes' fears of falsely reporting illness and scrambling to board the carts did not materialize; the carts carried the few remaining elderly and infirm.

With these preparations completed, everyone was able to set off for Kempson, further north.

During this time, he received unexpected support.

An armed force descended from the sky, including female soldiers, led by a short, little girl. However, her salute to Bart was crisp and precise, even more so than Bart's military salute: "Sir, Tanya, the captain of the third squadron of the Sky Knights, reporting for duty! We are ordered to assist you in escorting the target!"

"Hmm," Bart was quite intrigued by the new soldiers being secretly trained by the kingdom. None of them possessed spellcasting abilities; instead, they flew using the large backpacks they carried on their backs—alchemy devices. Looking at the instruments strapped to their wrists, Bart felt a sense of familiarity.

Judging from her shoulder insignia, Tanya is actually a warrant officer. She's holding a new type of hunting rifle, the barrel of which is almost as tall as her.

Bart was very interested in the new equipment; he figured Amelia, who loved riding horses, would definitely enjoy flying. But he now had an even stronger urge to ask the squad leader exactly how old he was.

What Flying Boy Scouts?

However, Bart refrained from asking such an offensive question and quickly got down to business: "Alright, please cooperate with us to patrol the area around the relocation team, pay attention to any stray refugees, and report to our commander in a timely manner."

"Yes, sir! The squad has one supply vehicle and one transport vehicle. Please allow both vehicles to join the squad. The supply vehicle is carrying spare equipment and fuel and requires ground troops for protection."

The Sky Knights have now established a basic organizational structure, with each squad equipped with two to three logistical wagons—one carrying spare parts for repairs, mobility devices, and transmutation dust, and another carrying personnel for rest after their shift. If there are no ground troops, a wagon is added for general supplies and ammunition.

In other words, they are highly mobile armed forces that are very close to being "motorized".

"understood."

Thus, the refugees from Valois were amazed. First, Bart used magic to clear away the dirt, rocks, and branches that were encroaching on the road, while there were always several people moving through the woods beside him. When crossing the forest, the Sky Knights' vision would be blocked if they flew into the sky, making it impossible for them to monitor the refugees. Moreover, the consumption of Transmutation Dust was very fast, which was not a worthwhile behavior.

Therefore, apart from the team members responsible for scouting the surrounding area who moved up and down the canopy, the other air knights responsible for escorting the team used their maneuvers to briefly take to the air, quickly leaping between the trunk layer and the lower canopy layer on thick branches.

The refugees of Valuwa were initially shocked by the magic of the army mages of the Kingdom of Bain and the high-magic troops, and then became numb, except for a few steadfast followers of Order who realized that they seemed to have entered a demon's lair.

Of course, when they see the cramped and cramped prefab houses, but equipped with strange pipes—some valves open to clean water, some to gas for cooking, and others to provide heat to keep the house warm—they will surely exclaim again what a real "devil's den" is.

The arrival of the first wave of refugees brought Kempson his first shock, with Andrei, who was stationed at the steel mill "at the helm" for Rorschach, bearing the brunt of it. Now, he had even more to manage.

Rorschach received a letter from his good apprentice in Lancaster. On the surface, it was a report on the recent situation, but in reality, it was a plea for help: If you don't come soon, your student will become an exhausted corporate slave with a receding hairline.

To prevent Andrei, who had devoted himself to the cause, from actually dying, Rorschach quickly sent out his clone.

At this moment, Andrei was as pale as a sheet of paper: "Teacher, the interns' training has been completed, and they are now starting their jobs one after another."

"The commissioning phase of all blast furnaces has ended. Here is the production curve for the past twenty days. Please take a look."

"The latest phase of the 'Affordable Housing Project' has already moved 237 households, and about 300 migrant workers have moved into the collective dormitory."

"Some displaced people wish to build a church for the Lord of Order and have submitted an application to the self-governing committee. They are now waiting for your opinion."

"Because the factory's employees are engaged in heavy labor and need to consume more meat, the rate of food consumption is faster than expected. Should we revise the food ration standards for the new population? Also, the steel mill wants to raise more livestock for meat."

"Hannah and William (the second son of a minor nobleman who was also discovered to have magical talent) wish to see you. They have finished reading the basic tutorials and are asking when you will begin teaching magic. Also, Hannah's classmate wants to see you, saying he has some kind of experiment to conduct."

In fact, some of the problems should have been handled by Hasai and others, but the seasoned veterans didn't want to take responsibility when they were unsure about something, so they bothered Andrei instead, which exhausted the young man.

Rorschach sighed. "I understand, Andrei. What you need now is sleep."

(End of this chapter)