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Third-Day of August, In the Year of the Empire 6777 Continued

Sienna had been silent while in the mansion with a team of four soldiers and a knight. As she followed me out of the back of the house, she asked a question.

Quietly she asked, "Hartson, um sorry, Sir Hartson. Have you done that before? Send men out to kill, I mean."

Looking back, I see that Mayer and his men were giving us some space.

She was looking a little pale. "No. I'm sorry, I should have excused you from that. But please understand that I'm not happy about this. Those bandits have been killing, raping, and stealing. Under Kingdom law, they face execution if brought in for those crimes. There is nothing to gain by having my men risk their lives to bring them in. What I ordered today was not my idea, its some of what I've picked up from biographies and history books I've been reading. That goes for nearly all of my 'noble' decisions, I just doing what worked before."

"The regret that I have is that I did not understand what I was setting in motion when I went to buy land for testing rituals. I ignorantly burdened myself with a barony. My promotion to Viscount has simply made me responsible for three baronies now. All of those people will now depend on me for protection and more. I will even feed them if I must."

We stopped walking at the edge of the meadow, looking at the stone house. Shutters now covered the windows, and a door stood in the doorway.

Sienna was looking at me oddly. "But no one else does what you're doing. So why do you?"

"I would have to say because of my father. I helped him build a carriage, not that I did a lot when I was that little. Father always talked as he worked. He would tell me stories that I heard before. The difference was that he would ask me questions about the stories. I asked him why once. He said that I have to think for myself, not just do what others want.

Also, my father always made sure to take care of the men who worked for him and their families. He called it kindness and investment. He would respect and be kind to them, and they would work hard to do a good job for him out of thanks and respect."

Sienna smiles, "I think my mom and dad are like that too."

"Yes, our parents deserve our respect. They have given us life and shown us how to live."

"Oh," Sienna is frowning now.

"Is there something wrong, Sienna?"

She kind of smiled, "No, it is something I remembered I need to do." Looking closer at the stone house, she says, "You built that." 

She did not ask me a question. She was just saying it as a fact.

"Yes, it took a collection rune and five days of constant mana drains, but yes."

"Hartson! That is so dangerous. You must never do that again."

She seems angry with me now.

"Oh. Well, I have sorted out that problem for rituals." Remembering her concern, "And I won't do spellcasting like that again, I promise."

She relaxed a bit but was observing me like I might do something like that right now.

I decided to move on from this, well, whatever this was. "Come on. I want to take a closer look to see if anything has changed."

I led her around the building, looking at the walls carefully. "Everything seems good. Let's go inside."

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I unlocked the door and opened it wide. Stepping inside to the windows, I opened them as well.

"Wow. Hartson, this is fantastic spell work. The fireplace is lovely to look at too. I've never seen one like that before."

She paused, looking around. "What is that over there?" She asked, pointing at the stairway wall that would keep someone from falling.

"It's a stairway to the cellar." I quickly threw some light about so that we could see more. "Come look down here."

She smiled, "Okay."

I watched her go to the stairs and look down. Casting more light ahead of her, I waited for her.

She slowly went down the stairs looking at the stone walls, running her hand along the railing wall that sloped down.

As we got low enough, I tossed lights further into the cellar to light it up completely.

Sienna cautiously looked at the stone above her. "Is the floor above us safe? Will it fall?"

I laughed. "Only if you can break twenty centimeters of solid stonework that has been reinforced by the magic I put into it."

She saw that the stairs had nothing holding them up, just that they extended out of the wall. "I can't believe you did this in five days."

I was smiling at her when someone called. "Sir, there is a rider here with a message."

I think I may have gone whiteish. "Oh no, something bad happened." Rushing up the stairs, I hurried out of the house.

Sienna was not far behind me.

A man I did not know was letting a horse graze nearby, as he held the horse's reins. 

Knight Mayer spoke up, "Sir, this man has a message for you."

Hearing this, the man turned to look at me. "Are you Hartson Perrin?"

I nodded, saying, "Yes, I am. What is your message, please?"

The man smiled. "I was sent ahead of your folks. They should be here in a few more hours with all of their people."

I could hardly believe him, "My Mother and Fater are coming here?"

He nodded with a grin, "Yes, they and a daughter. There are nine families following them."

"Okay. So who are you then?"

He laughed. "I am one of the guards your father hired to make your mother comfortable traveling with their daughter. Or so he told us when we hired on."

"Wonderful. Are you staying here or riding back to my parents?"

He shook his head, "I'm to stay here after trotting quickly to reach you. My horse needs some care after our long ride."

"Mayer, would you mind sending this man with the rider down to the stablemaster? That would be the best care we can offer."

"No problem, Sir. Jacobs, go ahead with him. You two walk the horse down to Hancock. He'll take good care of her."

"One more thing, how many people are coming, guards, and all?"

The horseman, already starting to follow Jacobs, called back, "About seventy-five, Sir."

Turning to Sienna, "My parents are about here! I'm going to have to figure out where to put them all. Did you know I have not seen them in eight years?"

Sienna started laughing. "Now you sound like me, so 'slow down' as you tell me."

I rolled my eyes at her with a big smile. "Come on, let's get back to the mansion." I grabbed her hand and dragged her along.

I was calling for Steward Milbrey as soon as we entered the house. He quickly came and asked what was needed.

"My parents, nine other families, and guards will be here in about three hours. We need to get things ready."

Mr. Milbrey just smiled at me. "We will be ready, Sir."

When I just looked at him like he was crazy. So he continued. "Remember that you sent me a notice that you have invited them? We've been getting ready ever since."

Now I was flummoxed. "Wait. I only sent my parents that letter four days ago. How did they get here so fast?"

Sienna laughed. "They left before you sent the letter silly."

I stopped to think about it. The trip was two weeks long by carriage. They would be going even slower. "They must have left just after the summer festival. Why would they leave then?"

"Didn't you say Instructor Saxon was going there for the summer festival to talk to your father?" Sienna asked.

I was looking at Sienna as I thought about it. "Yes, but that was before I became a baron. I wonder where they were planning on going when they get here?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Does it matter? They are still coming today."

Now I was smiling like crazy. "Right! My parents will be here soon. Should I feel so nervous? I bet Mother and Jean will like you right away."

Suddenly Sienna blushed bright red and said, "I'm going to my room for a bit." Then she nearly ran up the stairs.

"What happened?" I asked no one.

Mr. Milbrey chuckled, "Sir, you mentioned your family approving of her. Now she is worried that they will not."

"Oh. Well, I'll go tell…"

Mr. Milbrey interrupted with a smile. "Sir, it is probably best that you let her have some time to sort things out. I've three daughters myself, sometimes it best to let them be."

"Are you sure?"

Mr. Milbrey nodded.

"Okay."

Then he added, "You should probably go outside, sit down in the shade, and wait for them. Your parents and your girl."

"Sounds good. Wait, what do you mean by 'your girl'?"

Mr. Milbrey was already going to the kitchen and did not stop.

That is so weird. I did take Milbrey's advice to sit under the big shade tree to wait. Once I got comfortable, I went back to work on fixing the attic mana issue.