When he arrived back in Spartan Fire it had been ten days since he logged into Cal. That meant he only had five more days before he had to log out again. He was always surprised at how fast the time went inside the game.
As they approached the main part of the village, Kit’s eyes went wide. More changes had happened in the time he had been away. The residential area had grown once again, and the main street of shops had turned into a block of buildings.
The main road that ran from the town hall was not a single strip anymore, it now formed a square around a large group of buildings. This was the most shocking aspect of the village’s growth for Kit. He hadn’t expected so many people to open a business in Spartan Fire.
Having businesses was an integral part of a town’s growth, without it Spartan Fire would stagnate. The next step for a small village like Spartan Fire would be to introduce more industry so they could develop commerce pathways. So far, the only things Spartan Fire produced was food from the farms, this wouldn’t be enough industry to sustain future growth.
They would need to branch out into other sectors, Kit was hoping Kettle would have some ideas on that front. Once Kettle settled into his role in the town hall, Kit, Mars, and Twix would need to have a discussion with the man about future growth of Spartan Fire.
As Kit was thinking about Kettle the group had arrived at the town hall. Kit tapped Mars on the shoulder so he could stop Pint walking any further, Mars pulled on Pint’s reins and the large horse halted.
“Kettle this is Spartan Fire’s town hall. I’ll bring you back here later after I settle you in at the boarding house.” Even though Kettle was not an employee of his restaurant, Kit wanted Kettle to live at the boarding house for a while.
He didn’t want Kettle to feel isolated after moving to a new area. Staying at the boarding house would hopefully make him feel like part of the family Kit had created. This would also help Kettle to feel like he belonged to Spartan Fire instead of feeling like an outsider.
“Boarding house? Kit can’t I just stay with you for a few days, I can sleep in a tent if you don’t have a spare room.” Kettles eyes were big and round as he spoke. Kit wondered if the man was a little scared at the thought of staying with strangers, from Kettle’s reaction it sure did look like it.
Kit wanted to put Kettle at ease, so he quickly clarified. “You will be staying with me Kettle. We will all be living at the boarding house.”
Speaking of the boarding house, Kit wondered if Cupcake had completed the task of upgrading it while he was away. With the amount of time Kit had been gone Cupcake should have finished.
“Oh! That’s great!” A smile broke out on Kettle’s face, but his eyes still stayed wide. Kit began to wonder if this was Kettle’s first time leaving Fairweather town. Although they had conversed on the travel back to Spartan Fire, it had only been superficial chatter. Kit made plans to keep an eye on Kettle’s settlement in the village, he didn’t want a great find like Kettle to leave because of homesickness.
The party moved on toward the boarding house. When they arrived at the edge of the boarding house grounds Kit dismounted from Pint. He sucked in a deep breath as he stared at the new building.
“What has Cupcake done!” Awe filled Kit as he looked at the giant structure in front of him. A two-story colonial mansion filled Kit’s eyes. The boarding house was now a large rectangular shape, multiple symmetrical windows were placed on each side of large double doors.
Kit felt his heart start to pound, he couldn’t wait to see what was inside! As he took a step toward the house Kit heard a crunch, he looked down to see a gravel path. He had been too focused on the house to realise that the boarding house now had a road that led toward the front door.
The road was lined with flower beds filled with a rainbow of colour. “Kit, are my eyes deceiving me or is the boarding house twice the size of the original.” Mars rubbed his eyes then looked at the boarding house once again.
“Hold on if it is twice the size does that mean I get my own room again!” Before Kit could say anything, Mars nudged Pint and sprinted towards the front doors. Kit watched as Mars dismounted then went inside.
Kit was left standing with his mouth open, was a new room more important than getting the new employees settled? He shook his head and turned to the three people behind him. “Come on, lets go and have a look around your new home.”
“That’s the boarding house!” Milka spluttered her words.
Kit chuckled, then started towards the front door. The door opened before he reached it, Cupcake held the door open with large grin. “Cupcake good!”
“Hello Cupcake, yes you are good. I have three new people staying here do we have rooms available for them?” Kit didn’t forget that Snickers should have employed more people by now and they would already be living in the boarding house. So, he wasn’t sure what the living arrangements were right now.
Cupcake looked behind Kit at the new people and gave them a big smile. “Room!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Great, oh by the way this is Milka, Kettle and Finn.” Once the introductions were done Kit finally stepped foot through the door. The first thing to draw his attention was a staircase leading to the next floor, then his focus was diverted by Mud walking into the room from the left.
“Kit, you’re finally back! Snickers has been getting anxious, she was worried something happened to you.” Kit immediately felt guilty for not stopping into the restaurant first, he had wanted to get the others settled into their new home before getting swept up in his restaurant business.
“I’ll go and see her right after I see the upgrades to the boarding house,” Kit replied.
Mud came and joined the group and then started to act as a tour guide. “Great! Then I’ll show you around.” Mud put on a fancy voice as he started the grand tour. “Down the left is the kitchen and dining area.”
Kit followed Mud into a large room that looked more like a restaurant eating area. There were eight large tables that could seat at least 10 people each. Natural light filled the room from the large glass windows. White table cloths covered each table and a simple flower display sat in the middle, the room gave off an elegant atmosphere.
“This is the dining area and through that door over there is the kitchen.” Mud pointed to a plain wooden door. Kit felt his pulse rise, if the dining area was this big what would the kitchen look like? Kit felt nervous jitters as he approached the door, he took a breath then walked through the door. As soon as he entered, he stopped and blinked.
The kitchen was not much larger than the original, he moved further into the room and saw where the main upgrades were featured. Kit felt his eyes twitch when he saw the two stove tops and ovens, jealousy spiked as he realised his boarding house kitchen was ten times better than his restaurant’s!
Kit couldn’t believe that he was envious of his own building! He closed his eyes and practiced some breathing techniques to quell his bitter heart. He quickly walked out of the room so his mood wouldn’t sour further.
Mud came out hot on his heels. “Kit do you not like the kitchen, I thought Cupcake did a great job.” A frown pulled Mud’s brows as he spoke.
Kit realised that his actions could be misinterpreted, so he turned to Cupcake who had followed Mud out of the kitchen. “Cupcake, the kitchen is beyond my expectations. It just made me sad for my restaurant that we couldn’t have something similar.”
The large man grinned at the words of praise. “Kit get kitchen good soon!” Instead of thumping his own chest Cupcake came and clapped Kit on the back, Kit stumbled forwards due to the force. He had to quickly find his balance, so he didn’t end up sprawled out on the floor.
“Thanks Cupcake, you’re right, I will upgrade the restaurant kitchen soon.” The others soon came out as Kit and Cupcake finished up their conversation, Mud continued his tour.
Mud next took them to a lounge area, three large sofas and a coffee table filled the room. Mud explained that there were two more lounge areas that looked the same on the ground floor.
Next on the tour was a small library, it was sparsely furnished with just three bookcases lining one wall and a few chairs to sit on. What surprised Kit was that there was only a handful of books in each bookcase. “Where are all the books Mud?”
“Oh, we have to buy them. Cupcake wanted to check with you first before he purchased more books with the boarding house funds.” Mud explained.
Kit turned to Cupcake who had been following behind. “You can fill the bookcases.” He then motioned for Mud to continue showing them around.
Mud finally led them up the stairs to the second floor. Kit was very interested in how the bedrooms would be laid out.
“This floor is all bedrooms, there are two types. There are twenty shared rooms, four single rooms and one room for the midnight guardians.” Shock filled Kit as Mud casually spoke about the number of rooms.
He hadn’t expected so many rooms to become available, he thought there might be an extra one or two compared to the original, not an extra fourteen.
Mud walked over to one of the rooms and opened the door. “This one is empty so we can look around inside.”
Kit walked into a large room that had four beds inside, the beds was separated by a privacy screen that went all the way to the ceiling. Each bed had a large single lounge chair next to it. As he looked over the room a frown pulled Kits brows together, there were too many beds in one room. No one could have any privacy.
Mud went and laid down on one of the beds. “Watch this, it’s awesome.” Mud placed his hand on a metal plate at the head of the bed, then a shimmer started to form around the bed, lounge chair and finally connected to the privacy screen.
Suddenly the shimmer turned into a solid milky blue barrier, Kit could no longer see Mud or anything behind the barrier. “What is that?” Milka asked as she poked the milky blue wall, her finger couldn’t pass through the substance.
The barrier came down and Mud appeared once again. “That is the privacy bubble, when activated you can’t see or hear the person inside. It’s like a room within a room.” Kit couldn’t believe that the boarding house had this function, it truly was amazing. Mud then showed them the bathroom that was attached.
“Now that you have seen the rooms, let me show you the best part of the boarding house!” Mud took off down the stairs at a fast pace and led them outside. As soon as Kit walked out the back door a broad smile swept across his face.
Shimmering light reflected off still blue water. “See best bit, a swimming pool!” Kit couldn’t believe that he now owned a swimming pool! Cupcake had outdone himself with this upgrade, Kit didn’t think he would have done such an amazing job.
Kit swung his gaze around the rest of the backyard, his eyes landed on the large tree that used to be inside the boarding house before the upgrade. A large evergreen garden surrounded the tree, Kit wondered if a garden this size would attract more clean sprites.
With the tour over Kit left Mud to organise the new arrivals a room. He asked Cupcake to take him to his room, Kit assumed he had one of the single rooms. Cupcake led him back up the stairs and then walked to the end of the hall.
When Kit opened the door to his new bedroom his breath caught in his throat. Gentle light filtered into the large room from the floor to ceiling windows. A large bed that could fit three people dominated one side of the room.
The other side of the room had a small lounge area, a door was embedded in the wall behind. Kit was curious to see what was inside. When he opened the door, a large bathroom was revealed, he finally wouldn’t have to share with others when he washed!
Kit turned back to Cupcake, “Thank you Cupcake, you have gone above and beyond in the upgrade.” What Cupcake achieved had surprised Kit, he wondered if Cupcake had some talent in design. Kit’s mind was automatically drawn to the restaurant upgrade, he now had two people he could consult with about designs.
Thinking about his restaurant brought him back to the present. “Cupcake, I have to go!” Kit ran out the door and headed towards his restaurant.