The tour ended and everyone was surprised with the mansion, because I hadn't lied. The entire place was move in ready and fully furnished. The rooms were opulent, even the servant's quarters, and a lot of the people were impressed by that. Only the work crews knew that with liberal use of the number ten potion, a small amount of expensive material could be stretched well beyond the intended use and could be made into shapes that traditional woodworking just couldn't match.
We all went back outside and spent the rest of the afternoon mingling. Helena and I conducted informal employee interviews with the family and friends of the work crews, and surprisingly, we filled all of the positions in under an hour. One of them was the young woman who had spoken out earlier, too. Her mother had practically handed her over as a kitchen assistant and then volunteered herself for one of the general maid jobs.
Thankfully, her husband was one of the men on Frank's work crew, who had opted to become the main work crew for the estate and to stay on permanently. The funny thing was, Administrator Lannin wanted to stay on as the house's manager and his son wanted to keep working for us as well. His job wouldn't change much, except that he would be the gofer for the house staff instead. We even had a dozen guards volunteer.
Helena would have them all checked, of course. We couldn't have anyone that might be bought or coerced by her brother Marcus try to infiltrate our household. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to be hurt by him, especially us.
The party broke up after that and my supplies were quickly delivered to my work room in the basement. Helena and I stood at the edge of the property and bid farewell as we thanked everyone for coming. Helena claimed that the looks on the common people's faces as we treated them like important visitors, was worth having to stand there for an hour doing it.
Since I knew for a fact that being nice to someone gained you favorability with them and made them remember you, because it was so uncommon for them to be treated that way, it was definitely worth the extra effort. The more people that liked you, the safer you were.
I hadn't realized this until my failed attempts in Ester's Village to make people fear me. It didn't work and it took me a while to figure out why. It was because I wasn't a mean person. I did bad things and people hated me for that; but, that wasn't enough to make them afraid. No amount of bad things I could do would make them be afraid and they would just try to get rid of me again if I tried.
Once everyone was gone, we had a long conversation with Lady Bassinger and her family. We set some ground rules, no painting the walls or entire rooms, filling a room with art sculptures, or anything else ridiculous. We needed them to make pieces of art to highlight the spaces they would be and not take away from the aesthetics. A few of them made booing sounds and they were quickly hushed.
“We have a huge property here, so if... if... you make something obscure, there might be a place for it somewhere.” Helena said. “Be aware that the commissions will be paid on how successful you are with integrating with the environment they are to be placed in.”
“Don't worry, Lady Henrietta. I'll make sure they know that paintings go in frames and sculptures need to remain under three feet for inside the house.” Lady Bassinger said.
Helena nodded and then had an odd thought. “Do you have any metal workers or blacksmiths?”
Two of the men lifted their hands.
“I've been having trouble with something grand for the main lobby and the huge staircase there. Perhaps a nice chandelier of wrought iron and several mage lights to hang from the vaulted ceiling?”
“We'll get on it right away!” The two men said and took off running.
“I didn't mean for you to...” Helena stopped talking as the men disappeared from sight. “Never mind.”
Lady Bassinger laughed. “You strike inspiration and you must take it before it fades.” She said and shook Helena's hand, then she took mine.
I bent over it and brushed my lips over the knuckles.
“You are a very lucky woman, Lady Henrietta.” Lady Bassinger said, squeezed my hand, and then left. Her family quickly followed after her and they climbed into their coaches. The mini-parade of them left the property and then Helena, Selena, Mona and I were all that was left from the huge gathering.
“We need to start those investigations.” Helena said to her mother. “David, I'll be busy for a few hours. Once everyone is checked out, we'll let them know and send them for proper uniforms.”
I nodded, because that would save us time to let them do it themselves, rather than us taking them to get the uniforms. “I'll be inside working on my project.” I said and watched as she and her mother climbed onto the Henrietta coach.
“Selena!” Mona said and Selena jumped a little. “Stop bugging David and let's go home.”
“Mother! I wasn't...” Selena gave me a sorrowful look. “Bye, David.”
“I'll be over for supper.” I told her and she smiled, then she climbed into the coach and they left as well. I walked over to the large front doors of the mansion and opened one of them to enter, then I depowered the weight enchantment and secured the door. I walked through the now very quiet house to the basement door and went down the stairs. Everything was solid stone and no seams could be seen anywhere. I entered the basement that was my own personal work space and took in a deep breath.
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The smell of brewed and simmering potions, wildwood scraps burning with a low blue fire, and piles of wildwood squares that were stacked in the corner of the room, filled my nostrils and made me feel relaxed. I was still homesick for the marsh, because that was my space and I missed being there after being away from it for so long while in the army.
I quickly did up an appropriate mold for making the tube of springy trees and let it set, then I picked up some of the piles of wildwood coins I had cut the branches into and enchanted with the appropriate enchantments. As I waited for the mold to set, I started assembling the kracken tube ammunition. It was just me, so the work went about as well as it could have.
After two hours, I had twelve kracken tubes completed and enough ammunition for twenty shots each. They just had to have the tips dipped in molten metal and they would be complete. There was no rush on that part, since I had to get the tubes installed into the pre-made bunker-like outcroppings that were concealed within the house and on the grounds.
Small weapon racks were already in those places and they had several sets of different kinds. Swords, bows, crossbows, maces, and axes were available for anyone that was defending the place. The kracken tube holders were already in place, so I set the tubes into them and secured them, then stacked the ammunition by the wall for convenience and to keep it out of the way.
I went up to the main bedroom and the bathroom inside to have a bath. Sara and Hope were there waiting for me and I was quickly washed and Sara relieved me of my tension. I was quickly dressed appropriately for family supper and sent on my way to the main Henrietta Family's estate. We hadn't stocked the newly built stable, so no horses or coaches were available for me to use.
I made sure that the guards were in place in key areas and started to walk. I soon discovered that a ride of a few minutes by coach turned out to be quite a long walk by foot. I walked on and took my time, because I wasn't in a rush and I didn't want to wrinkle the suit. Helena had paid a lot of money for it and I wouldn't disrespect her by wearing it out before it was necessary.
I was about halfway to the Henrietta Family mansion when the sun set and seemed to plunge everything into shadow. They seemed to grow around me and spread out to make everything very dark, then I felt the telltale tingle of foreign magic. I knew my eyes would be useless in the dark, so I closed them and listened instead of looking.
My vigilance technique was on all the time now and I didn't suffer any consequences, so I easily heard several footsteps rapidly approach. They were heavy, which meant they were not used to running or being careful with their weight distribution. That was beneficial to me, so I quickly ducked as I pretended to trip and dug my knife out of the sheath inside the suit coat. I braced a hand on the ground as I rolled out of the way of someone's apparent grappling tackle.
“Huh? Wha...?” A gruff man asked, confused.
“How did you miss? He's blind in the darkness.” Someone else asked and I felt a foot swing towards my head.
I hadn't charged my knife, because it would glow and let them know I had a weapon on me. That didn't mean the knife wasn't wickedly sharp, however. The magic just lets me extend the blade to cut through nearly everything. I leaned back slightly and jabbed the knife forward in the spot where my head used to be, and I felt the knife slide right through the bottom of a boot and then the foot.
“ARGH!” The man yelled and tried to pull his foot back.
I twisted the knife as he did so and he yelled in agony as he dropped to the ground. The only reason he still had toes was because the boot held them on.
“Stop screaming! Someone will hear!” The gruff voice said and I felt the air move on my right side. I reacted on instinct and rolled backwards to avoid whatever attack it was, stood up and lunged with the blade of my knife held out to the side. I felt it slice into something like an arm and then it dug deep into flesh and bone.
“ARGGGLLLLHHH!” The gruff man gargled. Apparently, it was his throat that I had sliced and my knife had dug into his chest. I quickly used my free hand to feel around the man as he collapsed and found something that seemed like a blunt object.
“Hey, what happened? Grab him! He's right there!” A third voice said. “Wait, why are you holding your throat like that?”
“Because he's dying.” I said and threw the blunt object as hard as I could at the source of the voice. I heard a thunk and a crunch before whoever it was fell to the ground. I carefully crept over to him and there was no other movement, except for the man cradling his foot. I checked the second man's neck to see if there was any pulse, like the healers did with grievous injuries, and there was nothing.
I picked up the blunt object and crept over to the man I had stabbed in the foot and knelt beside him. “What spell or object are you using to cast the darkness?”
“Screw... you.” The man said.
I whacked his sliced foot with the blunt object and he howled with pain, because I had gotten his hands with the hit, too. “I won't ask nicely next time.”
“S-s-s-secret box. One time... cast. Darkness on the target, dimness on everyone else.”
“How long does it last?” I asked.
“Ten... minutes.” The man said, clearly lying.
I whacked his good foot and he started crying, because both of his hands and both of his feet were broken now. “How long?”
“Five minutes! Five!” The man said through his sobs and tears.
I quickly did the math in my head and I had about three minutes left. I kept listening and couldn't hear anyone else approaching.
“How... how can you see...”
“I'm not.” I said. “I have my eyes closed.”
“But... you acted like...”
“I don't need my eyes to hear you.” I said and quickly searched him. I found some rope and tied him up, then cut some off and tied up the other two. I then tied the three of them together and the one still alive started to complain that he didn't want to be tied up with dead bodies. I ignored him and the darkness faded, as did the little tingle.
I found the small box inside one of the men's pockets, because it was slightly smoking. Whatever magic or enchantment it was, it had destroyed itself to hide the evidence. I didn't touch it, in case it was cursed or had evil magic on it, and grabbed the end of the rope as I started to walk.
“ARRGGHHH! Don't just drag me on the ground!” The man said loudly.
I stopped, kicked them over to put him on top, then walked on. It shouldn't take that long to get to the Henrietta Family's mansion, even with the extra burden. I looked down at my suit and saw all the dirt and damage it had gained from the fight.
“Helena's going to be angry about this.” I said with a sigh.