Reincarnated to the Past 51 (Patreon)

Reincarnated to the Past

Chapter 51: In the Shitter

-VB-

Reyan stared at me and Ureya with a complicated expression. 

“You want … my help?” he asked in surprise. 

“Yes,” I spoke up. I sat a little in front of Ureya at her instruction, because a man and a woman were not equals and suggesting otherwise would only start the meeting negatively, even if both Ureya and I knew that neither of cared nor believed in it. But Reyan might, and that was reason enough to follow through with the common sense of the tribe and the world. Or at least not give him a reason to reject my idea out of hand. “It will be hard to convince a lot of the people inside the walls because, well, it’ll involve moving a lot of shit every day.”

Reyan looked skeptical. “And how is moving copious amounts of shit supposed to help us?”

“It’s for fertilizing the fields,” I replied. “And to keep our village from smelling like shit.”

“I can get behind the tribe not smelling like shit,” he nodded. “But where would you put it then? We already dump our shit in the river.”

Normally, I would talk about how unsanitary that was and more …

But since when did teenagers appreciate that kind of talk? 

No, instead of appealing to logic, I intended to appeal to his emotions, and what did Reyan want? He was upset with me for getting the position. I could act with tyranny and have the tribe make the latrine stalls, but after talking with Ureya, I understood that it wouldn’t work in the long term.

The Kettish were a proud people.

(But then again, what people weren’t proud of themselves?)

So I had to spin this project in a way that, if he were to refuse and get others to refuse, then it would be a hit to his pride rather than actual, tangible benefit. Ugh. I was really starting to dislike emotional and arrogant people. The proud had something to be proud about; the arrogant couldn’t back up their unnecessarily large ego and pride. 

And Reyan was that arrogant person sitting in front of me, but I gave him a small smile as he drank whatever it was that Ureya offered him. Whatever it was, he enjoyed it. 

Ureya, did you use my special sugar?

“Well, it makes the village smell while our vassals’ cities in Thracia don’t smell.”

He paused and then frowned. “They don’t?”

“They don’t.” Because they already implemented some of the most basic sanitation infrastructure like having slaves collect and dump the shit out of their cities. We didn’t even have that set-up properly. 

“So, what, you think we should copy them?” he asked me. He was obviously trying to find fault with what I was saying because he didn’t want to agree with me right off the bat. I wasn’t sure if he liked the idea itself, but I could tell that he didn’t like being lesser than anyone else. 

“No. If someone suggests that we just copy them, then I wouldn’t agree with them,” I replied. “So I want to make it better than how they do it.”

“Okay… Why tell me about it?” he asked. 

“Because I can’t do everything myself. I want you to take charge in this project.”

His eyes widened. 

“Me?!”

“Yes,” I replied with a hum. “Everyone knows that I am very good at what I do. So I will give you instructions on how to carry this task out, provide you with people who will do the work, and you will oversee the project so that it finishes in a reasonable timeframe.”

By giving this project to Reyan, I would be giving him a chance to earn his own respect that he thinks he deserves. Yes, it might also backfire on me if idiots decide that “oh, Reyan is so good at doing things that Alan can do! We don’t need Alan!” or some other bullshit like that, but I intended to explain how the project would work to as many people as possible, including my role as the architect and designer, so that such a risk would be easily mitigated. 

There was also another reason why I wanted to hand this off to Reyan. I couldn’t practice my own blade, tinkering, and more if I was stuck inspecting outhouses for weeks on end, wouldn’t I? And it would take weeks on end, in my opinion, because it would involve processing trees into lumber, lumber to usable planks, digging out the hole, giving the other carpenters in the village time to make the semi-waterproof carts and buckets needed to transport the waste, more pits further away from the village so that they can be turned into fertilizer, and letting farmers know about it so that the village can organize a system of payments and taxes for how the village would benefit financially from selling its waste to its farmers and beyond. 

It was going to be a lot of work, even if I was the one who took charge of it. 

Then … I saw a snag in that plan.

Reyan flushed.

Why was he flushing? 

“I … I don’t know how to read,” he grumbled.

I blinked. 

Oh, right. Literacy was not an important thing yet, and my efforts were slow to spread literacy to all corners of the tribe. 

“It’s pretty useful, you know,” I replied. “You don’t have to remember every single thing. You can focus on what’s really important.”

Reyan attempted to glare at me but stopped when he saw Ureya and backed down. 

“Yeah? And what’s important?”

“You’re not a lazy coward, right?”

He finally glared at me. “Of course, I’m not!” 

“Then let’s say that you become the arn because either I died or decided that you were a worthy successor.”

His glare lightened and now looked curious at what I was implying. 

“Not your kid?”

“I don’t know if my baby wants to be the arn. Hell, I don’t even know if my baby wants to be a warrior! But you do, don’t you?”

“... Yeah?” Yeah, he looked confused now. From his perspective, it must look like I was giving up the future generation’s claim at the arn.

“Well, leading people is part of being a warrior. Whether it’s a desperate last stand with the children and women or in a battlefield far away from home with your fellow men, you have to be able to lead people. By showing you can lead people in the village, you can be given the chance to lead outside of it.”

Reyan frowned and his eyes sparkled as he began to think about what he could do with this chance. And it was a chance. He may be a pain in the ass for me right now because he was the leader of the quiet opposition in the village, but that was because older warriors didn’t have any other figure to rally around. 

If I show him that I was his ally and pull him away from them who have done nothing for him except to whisper bad things about his brother-in-law, then I might rob them of that rallying point. 

“So what do you say, brother?” I asked. I didn’t smile wider or anything like that. I just looked at him like Ghigari did when he was testing me. 

Firmly, curiously, and, most importantly, expectantly.