New Tenants

Chapter 140

I wasn't expecting it given that he was busy but Elim called me the morning after the town inspection turned party.

“Mistress,” Elim greeted me with a grin over the video call.

“I take it things went well?” I offered. Elim looked too chipper to be winding up to bad news.

“Fantastic, fool put his head in the noose himself,” Elim replied.

“Oh? You never did tell me what the plan was,” I reminded him.

“Fairly certain I offered, but you heard ‘estate law’ and suddenly had a pie in an oven,” Elim said flatly.

“That may have happened, but I’ll listen now if you’ll indulge me,” I said with as little embarrassment as I could manage.

“Well, essentially I never found the title for the house or lands. Which worked in my favor since that only leaves the copy the Earl's office of estate management would have. So I mailed in a notice of forfeiture and dissolution of indentures to them using my family seal,” Elim explained.

“Expensive little buggers, but they can't be forged. Church of Khathar, goddess of contracts and arbitration, makes’em,” he continued, holding up a small seal.

“Anyhow, I wrote the Viscount- well his underlings, a note saying I’d be willing to sell and signed it. Bunch of eejits likely have no idea I was using my offhand or I have a seal and copied that signature onto a fake title exchange notice,” he explained, his grin growing a little.

“I used my seal when I was a soldier and they have plenty of records of my signature. It’ll be an obvious fake. Still, even if they miss that, since I sent the notice of forfeiture with the seal on it before them, that’ll trigger an audit regardless. Those are properly nasty,” he finished.

“Are you sure they did that? Filed a fake, I mean?” I asked, that part questionable to me.

“Much as I don’t like it, we have something of an inside man. So I’m fairly certain the title transfer was filed,” Elim added, cheer turning a bit grumpy.

“Inside man?” I asked, surprised. That was news to me.

“That knight fella we had tied up to the tree. Ackley Camphor. Turns out he was one of the knights who served my grandfather and my mother thinks he’s trustworthy,” Elim explained.

“Not a fan?” I asked.

“He’s fine I suppose… Just can't say I like him,” Elim offered with a shrug.

“Fair enough,” I said because I had no idea what to make of the situation.

“I didn’t tell him the plan, but he’s been spying for us and said they filed one,” Elim continued.

“Even if they didn’t though, an inspector will still come out to assess the property's value. Since the Viscount’s definitely taken possession, said inspector will find someone squatting on what's officially the Earl's land and probably illegally holding serfs too. Still more than enough to see everyone involved hanged,” he finished with a shrug.

“And you're okay with just giving everything up?” I asked. I found it a little confusing that Elim didn’t seem to mind just handing over his family estate to the Earl like he was.

“Definitely. I don’t even want to know how much back tax is owed. Forfeiture means it's not my problem,” Elim said, shuddering a bit when he’d said back tax. He’d mentioned that the property was likely being used in a scam so why he’d want to drop it like a hot rock suddenly made sense.

“Well, shit,” I said and felt my orbs flutter. I really had to tip my hat to the young man on this one. With two pieces of paper he was about to ruin a Viscount.

“Anyway, we're done here so-” Elim paused, looking away then sighing “Bess found a new snake Mistress. I have to go take a look, so please excuse me, but do expect us in about a month,” Elim said and ended the call when I nodded.

I chuckled, picturing the little girl running around the farmhouse with a snake around her neck like a scarf. From what little I knew of her, she was an energetic little beast and I looked forward to getting to formally meet her.

With that in mind, I doubled down on my work, wanting to make sure everything was ready for Elim and his family's arrival. Since I had the bulk of the main town in place I changed tracks a bit and prioritized getting new skeletons to fill out some of the species I’d neglected before.

I was working with Dwarves for the moment, with Elves next on the list. For now, I was focusing on crafting-oriented class skeletons. Heroic classes were my priority for the dungeon, but what I was doing at the moment was more about long-term design.

I made a point of spending as much time as I could bear in the valley proper. Daylight hours were still difficult for me, but not as bad as they’d been initially. It seemed like exposure really did help. That or I was growing numb to my discomfort, which wasn’t great but would do.

Technically I didn’t need to push that hard but I was honestly a bit excited. Elim would be arriving in town with his family in about a month and that would kick off the first leg of my larger plan. I’d asked him to go the long way around and visit the post towns along the edge of the desert on his way.

Rather than keep it a secret, Elim would spin a tale that he was visiting a little town he’d found in the mountains the previous time. Something that would likely draw some interest on its own. The kicker would be when he came back after and brought a few trinkets as proof there was a dungeon.

I wasn’t planning to give him anything crazy, just another light stone and some gold. Things the average person might be able to earn if they made it into the early green layers instead of sticking to the safe blue ones reserved for gathering. I wasn’t looking to kick off a dungeon-based gold rush situation.

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Even once that happened, I’d likely have some time before anyone new arrived. Aside from the Silvertree estate serfs. They had a few days' head start, but were a mixed group on foot with a hand cart of supplies. Elim would likely pick them up on the way and bring them with him.

Wanting to get everything ship-shape, I was by the cliffs surrounding the town working with the newly installed Dwarven population. Everything about their area was very much under construction and I’d been working almost non-stop since the prior day to try and get things sorted.

While they weren’t as reticent as the Humans, the Dwarves weren’t as open as the Halflings. They’d all seemed to come from fairly disparate worlds or realities, but seemed to think they had to sort out a communal style rather than having unique ones.

There was one exception though. Brun Shale Femur, a smith and berserker. Apparently, unlike other members of the community, smiths were to be listened to. Under normal circumstances her position would have been more akin to a clan leader.

More interestingly, Brun had proved her skills before I got anywhere near her build. She’d reached the skill level of a smith while she was alive. This had made her a lynchpin of sorts when it came to getting anything done with the other Dwarves. Thankfully, she was very interested in getting her smithy set up as quickly as possible.

“Mistress,” Brun said happily when I arrived. She touched her fist to her forehead in a salute of sorts.

“This is a nice area,” I offered. She’d selected a section of land near the cliff and the raw stone had a particularly striking pattern. The other Dwarves had debated it a bit, but also had their temporary housing added to the area.

“Indeed. Sorry for troubling you to put it out here and all. I just felt the town was a bit,” Brun trailed off with a shrug.

“It's no trouble, and I hardly mind you picking somewhere you're comfortable,” I offered.

The smithy itself wasn’t much to look at yet. I’d put together a basic building and filled it with tools I’d upgraded. Brun would need to point out what needed changing or was missing. I didn’t know much about her craft, but I imagined she’d need some specialized tools compared with what Elim could buy or borrow from a village blacksmith.

“Shall we?” I asked, gesturing to the smithy.

I was not sure what the differences would be, outside of things like bench heights and whatnot. Dwarves were shorter than humans by an average of two feet and stouter in build, but that’s all I really knew. The encyclopedia entry on them was limited. It had a few fun facts and a blurb describing them as master smiths.

Brun didn’t need a second invitation. She was inside and looking through things a moment later. She was also quickly filling a box with things I suspected she didn’t want.

“I have to mention, I don’t know anything about smithing and less about dwarven design. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know,” I offered.

“Well, I can't say I know anything about this kind of building myself. My clan lived in a great outcropping of stone on the edge of the sand sea,” Brun explained.

“It looked solid, but it had a hollow center and we faced our homes and workshops into it to let in air and light. We also grew food, but tried to make it look aesthetic. A lot of carvings and statues. I really loved that space,” Brun said and sighed.

I paused for a moment, trying to picture that. It was a lot better than the vaguely renaissance fair village thing I currently had planned for the area.

“Would you mind sketching out what that would look like? Like how the front of a home or business would look?” I asked, producing a sketchbook and charcoal.

“Certainly,” Brun said after a moment of surprise. She quickly drew an interesting facade carved into natural stone.

I made my own copy of the image, straightening some of the lines up, then turned it into a stamp. Set to relief mode I used it to cut into the nearby cliff face.

“Like this?” I asked, directing Brun’s attention to what I’d done.

“Fuck me,” Brun said, looking stunned.

“Uhm… Does it look alright?” I asked.

“Better than,” Brun said with a grin. She punctuated that sentiment by socking me in the arm which sent me into a sprawling slide for a comical distance.

“Are you alright?” Brun asked once she managed to stop gaping.

“Fine, I didn't even feel it. I’m veeeery light but tough,” I offered as I righted myself and flew back over. I wasn’t lying either. She had an illusion so I’d felt contact but it hadn’t hurt any, which was nice. Not feeling much sucked, but I couldn’t say I wanted to know what a mortal creature would have felt after some of the stuff that happened to me.

“Since you like it, just let me,” I gestured, already at work. I kept the face thick, a solid ten feet, and carved out a space behind it where the smithy would be moved. I had no idea if this would have been structurally sound without system magic but didn’t particularly care. I wasn’t done yet after all.

“Do you want living quarters above, behind, or to the side?” I asked. Most of the halflings had opted for a live-work arrangement quickly. The humans were still debating that aspect for the most part.

“Above, if I may,” Burn replied.

I created another story above the smithy. With the rough spacing established, it was time for a walkthrough and adjustments. Brun muttered to herself as we inspected the space.

Brun’s first request was to make a separate, unconnected room where the smithy proper would go. She cited fire and noxious fume hazards as the reason and I just nodded, glad she knew this kind of stuff. The area under the living quarters would be the saleroom. The living space above would be accessed through the store via a door at the back.

I created a stone staircase leading to a second-story landing. This resulted in a small space behind the structure. It felt claustrophobic to me and had all of the appeal of a back alley. The thought seemed funny coming from me; the literal underground murder labyrinth builder.

“This seems like a tight space to me. Is that your preference, or would it be alright to open it up a bit?” I asked. I didn’t want to offend, but I also didn’t trust my imported concept of dwarven architecture. It was limited to intricately carved stone vaults.

“No, I’d welcome a larger area really,” Brun assured me.

“Okay, then we could expand this area to accommodate a garden. Since there’s space here, instead of just stairs and a landing, a balcony would fit,” I said and started placing tiles. I could create something like a cave with an opening at the top to let some light and air in.

“Do you like a lot of sunlight, darkness, or shade? I asked excitedly. She’d described her former home with the open space at the center but it might have had sun shades or some such thing.

“I can see in the dark, but I like soft natural light most of the time. Shade during the hotter parts of the day,” Brun said, sounding pleased. It would take some adjustments but I created a rough-walled cavern with a narrow opening at the top. I was glad I’d already acquired most of the area, it would have been expensive to buy it all now.

“This is lovely,” Burn said, raising a fist. I flinched and she recalled what had happened earlier and only gave me a light tap. I still moved a bit, but I wasn’t sent flying this time.

Finishing the major adjustments to the interior took most of the rest of the day. It was nearly night by the time we reached the point of worrying about aesthetics.

“If you want, I can leave you some chalk sticks and you can draw in the decorations you want yourself. I’ll carve them out later,” I said as we finished.

“I’d like that,” Brun said enthusiastically.

“Alright, just text me when you’re ready for me to drop by or if you want different supplies. I’m not opposed if you want to do things yourself,” I said with a smile. I was used to doing all the aesthetic work in the dungeon myself. I realized it wasn’t the best way to approach the town now. The skeletons and the inhabitants to follow should be able to make their own marks on it too.

“Until then, Mistress,” Brun said and saluted me. I returned the gesture and left. I had a very large to-do list and quite a few Dwarves who still needed accommodations.