The Mechanical Era

As the city entered the morning, the sun shined its light on a large plot of land in the city guarded by knights in suits of armor, carrying pointy spears. Near the site were construction materials, mainly comprised of tons of bricks, bags of cement, and buckets of sand and water intended to be used to build it.

The workers, dressed in hemp cloths, were all chatting around, waiting for instructions.

"Isn't this place used to be where Tamer's bar used to be?" one worker asked.

"Yeah, it was. Heard they went out of business when their secret got out. Gosh, I remember those days. I miss those old gaffers." replied another.

"So what are we even supposed to be building?" one worker asked.

"I don't know. From what I know, we got to use the materials from over there." replied the worker with the only one with blonde hair.

"That gray powder? Isn't that the powder those workers gossiped about?" the same worker asked.

"So." a worker with green eyes replied. Before they could continue, a bald bearded man holding a piece of paper, accompanying some knights, arrived at the scene. He wore black breeches along with a light black tunic and brown leather boots.

Everyone was silent and told to form a line by the knights. All happily complied. Though they appear to look calm, many were shaken at the presence of the intimidating knights holding their weapons.

"Alright. Thank you all for coming here. My name is Decan Hurst, and I will be your supervisor regarding the construction of the project commissioned by his majesty." he said in his deep voice.

"If you have any questions, please ask before we begin," he said. The workers all looked at each other while Decan waited.

"No? " he asked.

"I do!" said the blonde one.

"Please, continue."

"What are we supposed to be building?" he asked.

"What is your name?" Decan questioned.

"Brandan" he replied.

"That is a good question you asked Brandon. The palace wants us to build a school for people to learn to read and write, and to show off the strength of cement. Anyone else?"

"How long are they giving us?" asked the worker with green eyes.

"About 4 months in total... your name?"

"Fabio," he replied.

"About 4 months in total Fabio. Thank you. Anyone else?" There was another moment of silence. Decan waited for a few minutes before moving on.

"Alright. You will all be split into different groups specializing in specific simple tasks. The first group will bring bags of cement powder, sand, and water for the second group to make the cement.

The third group will be the ones to carry the bricks and cement to the fourth group will be placing and building the school.

Now I have to inform you, this is the first time I am trying out this new method. There might be changes and adjustments in the future. Did you understand?" The workers all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright, I will set the groups," Decan said. The first group comprised four men, the second group 3 men, the third group 6 and the fourth group contain 7 workers in total. Now separated, he walked up to the first one.

"First group, you see those bags of cement, sand, and buckets of water over there?" Decan asked. The workers looked and nodded.

"Good, what you need to do is to bring them over to group two where they will make the cement. Do not worry about needing to bring water buckets here. There is plenty of water enough for the day, and if there isn't you can take them from a nearby well. Understand?"

"Yes sir." they collectively replied. Decan then walked up to the second group.

"Since you are focusing on making the cement, you are going to need to know what to make it, it needs to be mixed with the right portions. Considering we are making the cement for brick layering, for now, you all just need to mix one part cement powder with 4 parts sand and a bucket of water to get the cement for brick layering. That is all you need to know." he said.

"Clear?" They nodded. Decan moved on to the third group.

"Group number 3, you all just need to carry the bricks and cement to group 4. Use the round disk to bring the cement," he said. The group shook their heads, telling Decan that they understood him. Decan walked up to the 4th group.

"For your task, what you need to do is to use an adequate amount of cement on each brick to use like a sort of glue, and then place it down. I will show you all how personally. Alright?" they nodded.

"Alright everyone, let's get started!" he said.

...

Though only a few hours passed by, the group had made immense progress. They have already used a quarter of the bricks they had prepared, while nearly half of the cement, sand, and water had been used up.

The construction workers were working so smoothly, efficiently doing what each was set out to do. Though the repetition was a bit boring for them all, they were all well motivated by the coins dangling in front of their eyes.

A knight, curious to see whether it was normal, went over to ask whether it was normal. He asked Decan how far behind they were. He was surprised by his answer.

"Oh no, we are ahead of what I anticipated," he replied as he stroked his large brown beard while having his eyes wide open.

"I beg your pardon?" the knight asked.

"They are going at a surprisingly fast pace. Believe me, as an experienced stonemason, I've never seen a building being constructed at such a speed," he replied.

"Is that a problem?"

"In a way yes. They will soon run out of bricks and would have nothing to do for the rest of the day..." he replied.

"Hey, get me a piece of paper, an ink bottle, and a quill."

"Why is that?"

"I need to send sire a message that I might need a lot more materials than I originally anticipated," he replied.