Chapter 16: Troubles And Pots

Landar

The tour didn’t take long. As I had suspected most of the living space was on the first and second floors of the three buildings. With the upper floors being largely destroyed from water damage, and the main floor and basements having water seeping into and warping the wood flooring thanks to massive leaking cracks in the foundations.

“This one looks bad,” I said as I examined the last of the building's foundations. “Has this crack been growing?”

“Uh, last time I was down here me’lord, it was half the size.”

“And when exactly was that?”

“Two months back. Just before the first snow.”

“Shit. The building is shifting off its foundation along this line.” I ran my fingers across the crack. The shelf on the bottom part of the crack was three fingers thick, from what I imagined to be at most a five fingers thick foundation wall. “I don’t think my magic is going to be very effective on this.”

I had used some basic mana infusion to fuse the cracks in the other basements together. It was only a temporary issue, as the buildings really needed better drainage. On top of that I had quickly reinforced the basements with a few basic runes for strength and binding. Nothing too extravagant, but enough to keep things from getting worse. But this? This was a late game Jenga tower, and there was a toddler in the room called winter storms.

“What does that mean?” Kai asked, concerned.

“It means we’re going to have to evacuate this building. No one can live here safely. It'll fall down at any minute. Right off the side of the ridge line. It's also probably putting some of the buildings down below at risk as well. We’ll have to notify the city council about it.”

“We don't have room in the other tenements sir. Not to house everyone.”

“Hmm. I know. You’re all already living on top of each other over there. Let me think.”

System, or whatever your name is, are you there? I asked the mind spirit.

Yes sir. I am here. How may I be of assistance?

How many people can I bring to school as my entourage? I can’t remember but I'm sure I read it somewhere.

Accessing Memory Files . . . There is room for twenty servants, a total of five support staff, and five additional bodyguards. Along with their families assuming an average of 2.5 children per couple.

Really? Do most students take advantage of that?

No. But most do have some staff, guards, or attendants to assist them. Particularly those students who participate in the Practicals.

Are Drudges usually a part of that?

Not regularly. However, some students have taken to bringing drudges to complete basic household tasks for them. This would require that the drudges be contracted to them or their families directly, rather than through the city council. This necessitates a certain high station, usually a Baron or Count’s child. The few cases I am aware of it was usually a Baron's second or third child. As their parents either do not have the funds to continue supporting so many children with a full staff, or they simply do not see the point in investing the time and energy to provide proper servants to their non-inheriting children. In either case, it is not a common practice and is seen as either a sign of disfavor, or poverty among the middle and high nobility.

I understand, thank you. And we do need to come up with a name for you. System is just . . . weird.

I will apply downtime processing power to this question.

Is that a way for you to say you’ll use my brain while i’m sleeping?

Yes.

Shaking my head, I called to Kai. “How many people live in this building?”

Kai looked uneasy, but then he lifted his fingers on both hands and flashed them twice. “Two hands full of families.”

“So around twenty then?”

Kai nodded. “I think I heard that engin-eer say that when he was here.”

“Engineer. One word.” Kai looked at me dumbfounded. “It doesn't matter. Twenty families. And how many kids do most families have here in Apple Core Court?”

“Uh . . . “ It was clear he was trying to count on his fingers. “Luicy, Jake, Marry, Zeld, Keld, and Beld. That’s how many I’ve got. And I ain’t no different from most.”

“Six kids? Sheesh. Alright. . . that should be doable. For now. Can you show me the pump house?”

“The what?”

“The pump house. Where the city's pump workers come and pump water up to the water tank.” I pointed towards the ceiling.

“Oh. Right, I can show you.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

***

The pump house for all three buildings was a complete disaster. The roof had so many holes in it might as well have been made of mesh rather than treated wood. The door was literally unhinged, and leaning in its frame.

“ Good you came before the rest got here, they think it's haunted.”

“Really? Why?”

A screech of metal grinding on metal rang through the air, and then suddenly a puff of steam rose through the roofs many, many holes.

“That’s why. But don’t worry, I've chatted with the pump boys before, they come round every month or two checking on things.”

“I hope so Kai. I really hope so. The pressure from the underground river that feeds the pipes is immense. If we have some kind of blow out here, it could damage the entire court.”

“A river? Underground?”

I fought from sighing, and nodded instead. “Yes. In caves and brick lines pipes that the city made years and years ago. It feeds these pumps with fresh water. Normally, the pumps are needed to pull the water up. But if the pressure here is so high that it's creating steam? Well . . . that worries me.”

“Worries all the other folk of the court too, sir. Ery time it screams like that.”

System?

Adding pump repair technicians to our list of needed professionals.

Thank you.

I walked forward and removed the ‘door’ and put it off to one side. Then went in. The place reeked of mildew and mold. Might be black mold in here. I thought as I raised one hand and lit the place with a simple flex of mana.

The shed was sizable, and contained three only partially rusted manual pumps. The pump seals were clearly not fully functional, as light spirts of steam from the water below puffed out every once in a while. Mold covered everything in a riot of odd colors. Everything except the pumps themselves and a well worn path along the stone that the pump workers used to do their jobs.

If a river feeds the pumps down below the ridge line, that means there has to be something pushing that water up to these pipes so these pumps can pull from it. That’s got to be what's heating the water so much it's producing steam. System?

Added to the list of things to inform the city about.

Thank you.

You know, at this rate it might be more economically viable to tear these buildings down and build from scratch.

Perhaps. But remember, we just need these buildings to last for another year or two at most. Then we can do a full rebuild. Plus with some of the people I've written letters to who are coming in a few days, other options might open up to us soon.

“Alright. Nothing looks like it's about to explode. At least not immediately.” I said as I turned around and left the mold covered room and exited. “Now, about that pile of wood over there,” I pointed to where a large pile of discarded wood had been haphazardly thrown in a heap behind the pump house.

“The scrap pile? We use that for firewood, when the city doesn’t give us our ration on time.”

“The city gives you a ration of firewood?”

“Yup.”

“This might sound like a silly question Kai, but why don’t the children go and get it? I grew up in a peasant family, and at the age of eight most peasant children go out in a safe, guarded section of woods to collect things like wood, berries and such to help the family. Do the drudges not do that?”

“Never heard such a thing in my life. When do they do that?”

“Well, parents usually take their kids to one of the minor or major gate houses before work starts. Early in the morning.”

“Ah, then that’d be why sir. Ya see sir, the gates this quarter are owned by the gangs. If you send your kid the gangs i’d snatch em up in a heartbeat. Teach’em to theive, and run errands and the like. And if you went with em? They’d rob, shank, and then leave you for dead. Then take your kid anyhow.”

“So it's not safe, and the gangs control the minor gates around here.” Looks like there’s another thing to solve, system.

Added to the list, sir.

“Alright, anywhere else I should see?”

“Only one place left to go sir, where we started.”

***

“Eh your back! Thought you’d run em off Kai. Nearly ran me off with all your gabbin more than once.” Sidrin said as he stirred the cooking pot. He had added several pieces of wood to the fire bringing the pot to a boil after a whole day of simmering.

“That’s not kind.” Kai said as he pulled up next to Sidrin and began stirring the second pot. Which had also begun to boil.

“What kind of stew are you two cooking?” I asked, trying to turn the conversation to something pleasant.

“What else? Chicken and potato stew. Only we ain't had chicken in a week. So we just cook the bones again. Gives it a bit of flavor.” Sidrin’s voice was craggy, and clearly disgruntled with the situation.

I rummaged in my bag, and pulled out several dozen meaty strips of jerky. “It's not much for the whole place, but . . .” I pulled over one of the small tables that were supposed to be stalls in the petty market, but served as serving tables for the stew. I found what appeared to be a relatively clean corner, and used my ax to cut the jerky into small bites. “I think it’ll add a bit of protein into your stew at least.”

“What's a protein?” Kai asked.

“Eh, it's worth a go. Threw a rat in a few months ago, and no one noticed. Even got a few compliments.”

“Wait!” Kai turned to Sidrin. “That was a rat?! What is wrong with you?”

“Needed meat. We all did.”

I shook my head and rummaged in my satchel again. This time I found what I had packed for dinner. I thought I'd be eating it on my way back, but now? Well. If the stew didn’t kill these folk, it wasn’t going to kill me. Or at least, I hope not. I pulled the three potatoes out, cut them up into small chunks and added them too.

“That’s what I got for now. I’ll bring something much, much better tomorrow.”

“If you say so,” Sidrin shrugged, but his scowl had diminished. Or maybe that was just me wishing it had.

“How much longer until the first work gangs get off shift?” I asked, taking a stiff sniff of the aroma coming off the stew.

“Another hour, maybe two.” Sidrin said. “You’re welcome to join, since you added to the pot and all. Pick up a ladle, and stir that one. Before it starts burning.” He said, gesturing towards the third stewpot.

Smiling, I did as instructed. The smell of the stew had gotten markedly better with the jerky, and added potatoes. But when I saw small pieces of jerky floating in my pot, I got curious. I got on my knees and looked down at the bottom of the pots. There, I found something remarkable.

“Runes. That one means connection, and that one is a ward against poisons and rotten food.” I said to myself. I instructed System to take a careful memory of how it looked, so I could add it to my notebook next time I had a moment.

“Is something wrong?” Sidrin asked, annoyed I had stopped stirring.

“No, nothing at all. Just that uh . . well I think all three of these pots are connected.”

“Duh, I could have told you that.” Sidrin said acidly. “The ridgelines all have connected pots. Not just Apple Core. It's not like the city’s given us something special here.”

Quietly, I had to disagree. These pots were a true treasure, among a sea of ruin and poverty. And there was a lot I knew I could do with it, now that I knew it was there.

A new opportunity had presented itself. And I was going to take full advantage of it!