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Chapter 1

In the Kingdom of Obelisk, lived a man called Vasily. He 

was a calculating government official who hoped to move up 

in the ranks with his new position as the King’s assistant 

with hard work. Vasily grew up in a noble household, he had 

lived happily as a privileged child until his childhood was 

destroyed by his father's debt to the King. After he grew up 

as a peasant in the southern region. Life was difficult and he 

could not go to school since they were only at the capitol and 

expensive. At the age of ten he decided he wanted his family 

to reach the status they once held in the King’s noble court, 

so he worked since his fifteenth birthday in the capitol. 

“Du-d, du-d” sounded the corridor. 

“ Enter” an ominous voice rang from the other side of the large, imposing door.    Dressed in his best 

clothes, a purple silken robe, Vasily walked in. 

Without making any sudden movements Vasily walked exactly seven steps in, bowed, and without 

looking up he said, “Your Royal Majesty, I am Vasily. Your new assistant, sire. I came to inquire 

about any assistance you might need” 

“Yes, Baron Polisky told me about you, you are the one 

hoping to revive the Dubrov name, Yes? Well you will 

have to work very hard, your father offended me greatly by 

not paying his dues. To start you will have to monitor the 

food production along the Ob river, there have been some 

disputes over land, the towns in the far west have had 

complaints of water overuse, the farmers on the north east 

corner have been worrying about the clay mining hurting 

their crops, my advisers are having a meeting Sunday on 

population growth, that you need to attend. All of these 

aspects need to be addressed at the next meeting in a 

week.” One the King was finished, he promptly got out of 

his throne and walked out of the room. 

Vasily stood there astonished, as the seconds passed he was still 

reeling from the King’s orders. There had been rumors of the King’s 

expectations, building an infamous obelisk in seven months,  

clearing five fields in a day, but this! How could he possibly 

complete his task in a week! He knew that the government was 

efficient but never this efficient, the government was already 

functional enough, only having one ruler allowed for quick decision 

making and no public controversy. 

As Vasily walked into the hut of a local farmer, he looked around the area. 

The owner, an elderly man by the name of Andrei Belsky came up to him. “Sir 

Dubrov, thank you for meeting me. As you can see my families farm has been 

the subject of cruelty from the other farmers.”

“Yes. I can see. May I ask what caused this type of action?”

“You see, ever since my son has left to become a potterer, the surrounding 

families think my farm should be revoked on the grounds that I haven’t 

enough people. I don’t want to bring him back, Sir. I am quite proud of him, of 

course creating the famous pottery Obelisk is known for, especially the 

beautiful vases, but I feel like I   have no choice. Can you help me?”

“You know the law stating the necessity of having at least 10 workers per 

farm, correct. Your farm will not be efficient enough, irrigating land next to 

the Ob river is no small feat, not to mention planting and harvesting your 

minimum of wheat, potatoes, carrots, and beets. Will you be able to complete 

this?”

“I am positive, Sir”

“Then I will discuss the arrangement with your neighbors and the King, I you 

do not reach your quota of produce then I will have to revoke your ownership 

myself are we clear?” The elderly man drops to his knees in gratitude. As a 

cold man, Vasily ignored the gesture and stormed   to the exit, intent on 

completing his assignment.

Chapter 2

As Vasily got of his reindeer and stepped into the town of Peton 

he was angry. Riding from central Obelisk to the far west 

without sleep or food was exhausting, to add to the matter he 

despised Peton. Peton was known to be the dirtiest town in all 

Obelisk and the most crime filled. Walking through the streets of 

Peton was worse than walking through twelve feet of melting 

snow. Vasily took a deep breath only to regret it, the air smelled 

of rancid meat. Holding his breath this time he rushed toward 

the town council. 

After several long minutes of determined strolling, Vasily found 

the protesting citizens. They had immediately knew why he 

appeared for. As they talked about one of the local families, the 

Maksimovs, he cringed from their thick western accents. 

“Sir, us in the town have been noticing the Maksimovs have been 

taking more than their share of water for the past seven months. 

If this continues we will have to dig another 4 foot deep well, but 

we know the King does not want that. We here want them 

stopped or driven out of our town.” The seemingly leader 

butchered.

“I see, Peasant Romanoff. May I examine the records you speak of?” as he 

grabbed the leather in scripted packet. The seconds passed while Vasily 

examined the leather pages, the team of three restlessly paced.

“Point me in the direction of the Maksimovs” Vasily muttered curtly. All three 

men point their arms to right to a house, four houses down, and ran away.

“Du-d, du-d” came from the sudden knock on the door. “I am here requesting the 

matriarch of the family, It has come to the Kings attention that your family has 

been taking too much water out of the town well.”

“Yes sir. We need more water than our ration because my wife recently had 

triplets.”

“It does not matter the circumstances, the King wants water to be rigidly 

regulated. You know the rules; you stick to your ration or you pay the fine. On 

another hand your family might be eligible for a farm near the Ob river where 

water is unlimited.” With that Vasily left to his next assignment.

The journey from the west of Obelisk to the northeast was a shorter than the 

previous, thankfully; at this point in Vasily’s quest he was annoyed with the 

King’s requests. 

As Vasily trekked to the Zukov family farm, all the while muttering, “Only one 

more meeting, only one more meeting…” Once he reached the door, one of the 

residents were already there, probably hearing his babbling from a mile away.

“Thank you, sir. For representing the King on our behalf, we know I must have 

been bothersome reaching our small farm” said the owner’s niece; and it was.

“I am here from worries over mining clay in the banks of the Ob”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You made the right choice, the King greatly protects his agriculture industry, 

now what is the problem with clay mining and who is the culprit?”

enter text here

“The couple across from me, the Meiers. They have been mining, too 

much clay from the river. The removal of the clay is causing the 

destruction of our irrigation ditches. Due to this our crops to be cover 

watered. Which lessens my yield and therefore the King’s”.

“ Mr. Zukov, is there any way they could lessen the mining, instead of 

completely ending the mining? Our clay industries rely heavily on 

northeaster's clay”

“They would have to limit their mining to about 30% of their current 

actions”

“I am sure the King would be pleased with your assistance, Good day 

sir.”Vasily said as he documented the complaints and new circumstances. 

Once he left the farm completely, he began his travel to their neighbors to 

inform them of the new regulations on mining in the area. After, he was 

set to go back the King; Vasily was anxious to reach the Capitol, he only 

had one more day to complete his tasks. 

Vasily stood with confidence in a room with nine other court officials, of 

course he was the only King assistant , and he knew many were vying for his 

position. A loud “BA-M!” sounded, everyone turned to the source of the 

noise, then bowed for the King had entered the room. 

“As you know our population has remained about the same for several years 

at 27,600 people. I would like to expand our population for more influence 

within the continent. Your jobs are to figure out the logistics and return to a 

plan for a long term expansion.” And as quickly as he came so he did leave. 

“I know that our farming could support another 80,000 citizens” cried the 

Secretary of Agriculture.

“That’s not taking into account trade, what are you thinking? To grow in 

influence we need to increase our trade of resources to neighboring nations!” 

answered the Secretary of Trade.

“What we need is a percentage of population growth” a calm mathematician 

replied. It went on like this for hours until Vasily yelled out “The population 

growth should be .2% for the next 50 years, that still leaves about half of the 

surplus for trade. Now I am leaving to speak to the King, goodbye.” He stood 

up loudly and angrily stomped out of the room into the King’s main 

chamber.

“You may enter, speak your purpose” Says the King loudly.

“Your Royal Majesty, I am here to report back on my progress. I have completed 

my assignment and I hope to be of help for you and your cause."

"Show me your leather book, for proof” Once he received the book, he examined 

it for further detail.After examining the King felt it was necessary to reward 

Vasily for his hard work. For your dedication to me I will reward you with the 

next week off, I am sure you will like to spend Yule with your family.” Then the 

king gave Vasily his leather book back.

“In the future, date your page by: month, day, then year.” he yelled as Vasily 

exited the room.

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