HBWnovel Chapter 55: Floor Plans
Chapter 55: Floor Plans
Chapter 55: Floor Plans
Isla Carille Bricio. A Bricio? Was this some kind of joke? Why would Loriel send a member of Bricios? The Bricio family was everything that was wrong with Skyholme. Power-hungry, manipulative, and willing to use people to achieve their ends.
“I am sorry, Isla, but I think I was hoping for...” I started to say as I searched for the words to not sound like an ass. I also didn’t want to make an enemy either.
The young architect looked at the people around the table and pursed her lips. Bylura spoke first, “Isla is a good friend of Loriel. A good friend Storme. She has been helping Loriel fend off the marriage proposals of Abaddon Bricio. You can trust her.” The wolf girl sounded annoyed. I really didn’t trust Loriel either. I had just hoped she would send me someone competent...someone unaffiliated, but I should have known better.
Isla sat across from me and steeled herself, “Can we talk privately?” I nodded and asked everyone to give us the table. When we had the table to ourselves, she resumed. “My name is Isla and I am Bricio. I ask you don’t look at my name, though. My father may have been a Bricio, but I don’t associate with him or my extended family.” Her brown eyes looked pleading. “Since I don’t see eye to eye with my father or family, it has been difficult getting jobs in the field that I spent my years at the academy learning.”
I looked at the 20-something woman with her pulled-back dark blonde hair. Her face showed uncertainty. I asked, “So Loriel sent you to me as a charity case?” The phrase confused her for a moment as she puzzled out the meaning.
“Charity? I will have you know I am a damn fine architect!” Her voice was heated as she started to get angry.
“Calm down. If I hire you, will I draw the ire of the Bricio family? And what are your rates?” I had gotten defensive since she had gotten angry. I was looking for other reasons not to hire her. Reasons that she would offer herself.
She paused and then spoke, “My father hasn’t prevented me from getting jobs. The Miaden’s have. Architecture is their purview, and they have a number of family members in the field. So not only am I a woman, but I have the wrong last name.” She took a long exhale. “As for my rates...how are a ten gold retainer and 20 silver a day?” She added hopefully.
The rate seemed reasonable. I needed to make a decision. Should I trust Loriel, who was using me as a pawn on a chessboard to block the Bricios? Isla seemed genuine, and maybe she was innocent in the political game. Maybe hiring someone with the last name of Bricio would keep the Bricios from looking at me more closely.
“What are your ideas on my new building?” I asked skeptically, trying to stall. I was at least willing to listen.
The woman smiled and pulled out a pamphlet of papers, “Loriel got your entire building and the land behind it flexed. You can have virtually any type of building on it. Please remember you promised Loriel that you would hold one of the apartments for her use. Here are my sketches.”
I paged through her drawings. She had the entire first floor with a row of shops facing the plaza. She had 40 large apartments on the second and third floors. I looked through the drawings and she had done an excellent job in such a short time. It was not what I had envisioned but had elements of what I wanted.
“I can see you put a lot of effort into this. I was thinking that a third of the building would remain a very large warehouse, 100’ x 100’ in size, with a 40’ ceiling. The side facing the city wall would have massive doors to allow a small skyship to enter. The rest of the warehouse would have three floors.” I sketched my own rough drawing for her.
I continued, “I think at most 20 apartment units...each with two bedrooms. The first floor would have a restaurant and bakery facing the main road. And the most important thing is a very large kitchen and storage pantry.” Isla had taken notes while I spoke.
She looked at me seriously, “Give me a day. I will stay in the room above this tavern. I will show you what I can do.” She continued asking me questions and taking notes for the next hour. I slid her a shiny platinum coin when she finished to retain her services. We had never formally agreed to the retainer, but she had shown enough interest and capacity for me. A platinum coin would be enough to cover her services for an entire year, and I noted that term when I gave her the coin. She nodded and left with a smile on her face.
Bylura came up to me after Isla left, “So, did Loriel do good for you or what?”
“Isla seems competent. So are you headed back to your mistress now?” I asked the wolf girl.
“Nope,” she said excitedly. “I am to keep an eye on you.” My eyes narrowed, and she gave me a wolflike grin.
“I have been given a Proctor de Factum badge for your academy. I am the official auditor of Hen’s Hollow Academy!” The wolf girl was practically jumping in place. She explained, “I am to observe your academy class for 90 days and write a report for the Skyholme Acadadium Primus. It governs the monetary funding for all first-year academies.” The girl said excitedly.
My head started to hurt. I didn’t want to be under a microscope. “Can you even write? Are you not too young? And you are a wolfkin?” Each question was like a body blow to the girl, and I felt guilty afterward for taking my anger out on her. She was just another tool of Loriel. She sat hard on her seat.
“I can write,” she said morosely. “The badge belongs to Loriel. She called in some favors to be named auditor. She is the one who worked to get the position. It doesn’t require a person to actually be present to do the assessment themselves, so she gave the task to me.” She bowed her head. “It was just a way for me to keep an eye on you. I am to return to Loriel if anyone else makes a move to solicit your services.”
“Why me! Gareth won the tournament, not me!” I said with exasperation and helplessness.
Bylura spoke slowly and carefully, “I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone else is interested in you, but Loriel is very interested. She is not a bad...” My gaze of annoyance stopped her from trying to convince me of Loriel’s good intentions.
I sighed, “You can go tell Callem and show him your badge. He is in charge of the academy training. I am sure he will love to have a pup underfoot.” I wasn’t sure why I was angry at Bylura. I think it was just because I was angry that Loriel had her eyes on me, and Bylura was going to be a constant reminder. The sooner I built a skyship and had the freedom to leave Skyholme in a time and choosing of my own, the better.
“I want gardens on the roof to supply some fresh produce for the restaurant. Nothing too fancy. Just a nice simple place to relax and watch the skyships come and go,” I said. Isla made notes but looked skeptical. As I was studying the plans further, she asked a question.
“What you are asking is going to require a lot of reinforcement in the structure and quite a few stone mage hours to convert....” She was insinuating that she doubted my funds.
“No worries, Wynna and Callem have assured me they have the coin. Once I get the plans mostly approved, you will also have to get their feedback.” She nodded but still seemed a little skeptical.
“How much to reserve the services of a stone mage and construction crew?” I asked, sounding a little haughty.
“About 500 gold for a week for the best crews. 200 gold for one of the lesser crews,” Isla offered. I kept flipping through the plans and dropped 20 platinum from my dimensional storage on the table.
“Are you willing to work as my foreman for the construction?” I asked, looking at the first floor again. I was studying the massive kitchen, food storage restaurant, bakery, and restrooms this time.
“I...I do have the required licenses to do so...” Isla started.
“Excellent, you are hired. Take your fee from the....” I waved a the pouch. “You can hire the best available crew, and when you need more, just let me know, and I will get it from Callem. Now the restrooms need to be expanded, and I want to be walled off this area here for a private dining and function room. The bakery is slightly too small, so let’s add a bit here. I also want the staff to have lockers, so put them on the back side of the restrooms.” She made some notes.
“How do you want to supply water to your building?” she asked. “There is no access to the city water, just the city sewers.” I looked at the building and pointed to the roof.
“Can we add a water tank here and have gravity-feed water to the building? We can fill the tank with water enchantments.” I said after looking over everything.
“If we move your water tank here, I think it is possible, as this wall can better support the weight,” she said. We talked about the plumbing for the structure. Magic had replaced much of technology inside the sphere, but they still knew the principles. Our meeting lasted another hour as we refined the building. She had 20 large apartment units; the only negative was that the second-floor units facing the adjacent warehouse would not have a view. The third-floor apartments on that side were a few feet above the roof of the building. I was still torn on whether to give the apartments small balconies. Other than that, I felt this revision of the building plans would meet my expectations.
Isla seemed to be energized by the changes. Bylura obviously hadn’t been able to read the plans, resorted to just listening, and hadn’t supplied any input. The two left together, and I returned to my room. I found the twins on my bed talking with Gareth. They made space for me to sit between them.
“How was the visit with your family?” I asked the girls.
“It was hard. So much is going on at the farm. Our brother’s wife is due with the baby soon. Demand for eggs is down, so our father is trying to expand into beef, but the permits to raise cows are so expensive,” Mera said.
I didn’t want to get their hopes up, but maybe I would supply my restaurant with ingredients from the farmers around Hen’s Hollow. Depending on how fast the builders worked, I was still months away from opening. And that would all depend on construction going smoothly.
“Mera, you have a tier 2 ability called fermentation. Would you be interested in employment? Gareth probably told you I am trying to open a restaurant in Aegis City. There is the possibility a small brewery may be included in the floor plans.” Mera’s eyes went wide. Any tier 2 ability was extremely powerful.
“You would hire me?” She sounded skeptical.
“How does one gold a week sound to start? Well, after the first-year academy, I would sponsor you to an academy in Aegis City so you could work the brewery.” Her jaw dropped. Fifty gold a year was a massive sum. “Of course, you need to work hard for it. Your ability can expedite the maturation of ales and spirits, so your skill has a lot of value,” I added. Fera, on my right, had grasped my arm and was telling her sister with her eyes to accept. I looked over to Fera.
“Fera, your ability was harvest? There will be a small garden for growing produce and herbs for the restaurant. I would be interested in hiring you well and paying for your academy as well in the city so you can attend with Mera. How does 15 silver a week sound?” It was much less than Mera’s pay, but her plant growth ability was tier 1 and not that rare. Some spells could do the same thing as the harvest ability as well.
“Stormy are you going to hire me as well,” Gareth pleaded. “I can be a taste tester or carry barrels.” Gareth was trying to be funny; his pleading tone was fake. He just wanted to be included in the conversation, in my opinion.
“I am going to need waiters to serve food, Gareth. I can pay you two silver a week,” I said seriously. A pillow flew at me so fast it knocked my head into the wall. The girls came to my defense and retaliated with pillows from my bed. It was almost a fair contest, us three against Gareth, but he could catch and return pillows with ridiculous speed. He targeted me much more frequently than the twins. I wished I had my lightning reflexes spell at this time.
The girls eventually went to their room, but I promised when the restaurant opened, we would make a formal contract of employment. I had been wanting to snag Mera’s fermentation ability for a while, and it almost seemed too easy.
(readers, the sketch of the inn floor plan can be found in Patreon subscriber’s book notes if you are interested. It is in an excel tab)