HBWnovel Chapter 69: A Day with the Girls
Chapter 69: A Day with the Girls
Chapter 69: A Day with the Girls
Fera and Mera were already up and had been waiting for me to knock. They were dressed in their best clothes. Fera excitedly asked, “Should we get breakfast here or in the capital?”
“We can get it in the Aegis City. We have to go get Mia from her room,” I announced, turning, but I saw the twin’s faces frown at Mia’s name.
Knocking on Mia’s door and announcing myself, she answered with a big smile which quickly fell on seeing the twins behind me, “Ok, I am not sure why you are all unhappy with each other coming today, but we are going to have fun. I am hiring some people today, and I need a woman’s intuition to know if they are the right people.”
They all seemed to buy my line of bullshit and were happier to be in each other’s company. I wanted to enjoy the day off as much as possible, and I had just pulled an all-nighter making my new sword. I would have probably been extremely irritable if the women did not get along for the entire day.
We didn’t have to wait long for the skyship, and I paid for everyone. Mia was going to protest, but I eyed her with a challenge, and she didn’t insist. On the flight, the three women formed a circle to talk amongst themselves and gratefully sat alone. I closed my eyes and went into my dimensional space. The sword was lying there, and very carefully, I made a generic clone of the blade in iron. If I had time today in the city, I would leave the cloned sword behind to have a sheath made for the blade.
I was shaken awake, and my eyes flashed open in preparedness. I jumped to my feet to see Mia in front of me with the twins behind her. She said, “We landed.” I had fallen asleep after I had made the replica blade.
I stood and gave a sly grin like I had been faking my little nap. I bowed, “Ladies, may I escort you to breakfast?”
We went to a small inn not too far down the road. The meal was forgettable, but my company was all questions about the restaurant. They were confused when I told them we had already walked past it. Confusion rained as we had not left the warehouse district. When we returned to the docks, I turned into the first warehouse. The large restaurant dining room looked great through massive glass panes. The floors were polished gray stone, and I counted 11 completed and installed artistic panels. The artist, Tatem, was working on the 14th and 15th panels. Heavy tables were stacked along one wall. The chairs must still be in the warehouse or had not arrived.
“Storme!” Tatem noticed me and waved me over. The two panels he was working on were a pair. The landscape crossed between the two paintings. The one on the left was a large troll. He was getting ready to fight the creature in the right panel, a manticore. The two panels were sketched, and he was about halfway through the painting process with the troll. If they came out like the other 11 images, they would be life-like. “What do you think?” Tatem asked.
“Amazing work, as always. How long till you finish all 23?” I asked while the woman looked at all the completed panels.
Tatem put down his brushes. “I think I will finish these two soon, so that would be 15 completed. I have sketched out the next two. There is another completed panel waiting for clear coating over there.” He was beaming in pride. “The outside wall is going to take me ten weeks or so. I have lined up three assistants for the work,” he said with determination. I studied his paintings for a few minutes with Mia, Fera, and Mera. Tatem offered, “Isla is on the second floor if you are looking for her.”
I left the three women as they still had not had enough of the works of art. Since they were essentially life-sized, this was the first time they had to study these creatures.
Isla was in the corner apartment that Loriel had reserved for herself. She was setting up furniture with Bylura. Bylura gave me an appraising stare before going into the bedroom. Isla looked at me and said, “Loriel said I could use her apartment while I worked on finishing the building.”
I decided to tease her, “That explains why you are in here instead of working on the building.”
Isla didn’t like my comment, and her furrowed brow. She ignored my comment and announced, “I have the projections for restaurant staff on that table over there.” She pointed to a piece of paper on top of her work folders. “I have lined up thirty-seven interviews for you starting at noon today.”
I suddenly didn’t want to be here. Spending my entire afternoon in interviews did not sound like fun, “We will interview the cooks and bakers first. Then I have errands to run. I have some friends downstairs who will interview the waitstaff for me.” Since I was paying their way today, I figured Mia, Fera, and Mera could do me a favor.
I picked up the paper and reviewed it.
Head Cook Low 20 silver/week High 90 silver/week
Cook Low 10 silver/week High 25 silver/week
Server Low 2 silver/week High 10 silver/week
Bartender Low 5 silver/week High 30 silver/week
Baker Low 5 silver/week High 20 silver/week
Dishwasher Low 1 silver/week High 3 silver/week
I had not asked to hire a bartender, but it was on the list. Seeing me study the list for a long time, Isla relaid, “I had a few people go around to the restaurants, taverns, and inns in Aegis City and compile the information. They hit up almost every place that sold food in the city.” She had been very thorough. On the backside of the sheet listed the places she had her gofers go and what each place was paying. She added, “Most places also give the benefit to employees to take home leftovers as well, usually by seniority.” I nodded, took a blank page from one of her folders, and wrote out my needs.
The bakery would have one shift of 9 hours in the morning to do breakfast. The restaurant would have two shifts, one for lunch and one for dinner, each about 7 hours, longer for the cooks.
I spent 26 gold on simple clothes and could now wear something different every day for two months. With my cleanliness spell, I didn’t need a lot of clothes, but I did tend to damage my outfits when practicing all out, a disadvantage when your opponent knew you could heal yourself.
As I walked into the warehouse, I found seven people still waiting to be interviewed. I thought about not rejoining the women but ended up walking into the current interview, “I thought you would have finished by now!” I smiled as I sat with them.
A young woman was seated across from Isla with the others flanking her. Isla retorted, “We did, but news has traveled, and more people keep showing up.” She pulled a sheet to herself. “We have hired seven dishwashers, two bartenders, and seven servers!” she said proudly.
I squeezed in between Isla and Mia and looked at the list ignoring the young woman being interviewed. I looked at the list, “You hired an extra dishwasher? And most of these names are women.”
Mera defended the group’s extra hiring, “She looked so miserable. She was too young to be a server and is taking care of her younger brother, who is sick. You will like her Storme. She will work really hard.”
“It is fine.” I waved my hand. “Please finish up quickly.”
I sat quietly and watched the interviews as a spectator. Everyone had a reason for wanting to work here. They didn’t make enough to support their family, their current employer abused them, they had to work 12-hour shifts, and they didn’t get to see their family. I was not good at discerning if they were telling the truth, but the four women as a group seemed to be able to puzzle out what they agreed was the truthful. At least Mia and the twins seemed to be getting along well.
We filled out our roles, reaching 10 servers when the final person was interviewed. With 30 employees starting tomorrow, I had no idea how Isla was going to keep them occupied. “Next seventh day, Isla, I will return and stay for the week. Make sure the furniture is in my room. I have to see my dungeon delve team off that day, but I will start teaching the cooks the following day. We still need another baker and chef. Try and find someone I can work with during the week.”
I stood and stretched. “Mera and Fera, do you want to see your rooms? They are up on the third floor. Mia, you can accompany us if you wish.”
They eagerly stood and were stiff themselves. Mia asked with disbelief, “They have rooms?”
As I led the way to the large stairs, I answered her, “Yes, Mera is going to be my brewmaster and Fera, my horticulturist. The roof is going to be covered in gardens.”
Isla was trailing us even though I had not invited her, “The stone mage is on the roof right now making raised beds and setting up the windscreens.” I wasn’t sure why she was accompanying us.
We stopped on the third floor, and I showed them their room. It faced the adjacent warehouse, but their windows showed the rooftops heading toward the city. Not a bad view. They were excited, and it was a nice place to live. We didn’t have any glass yet for the windows. Isla started to go into detail about the apartment’s features. Mia seemed a little jealous as the twins talked about how they planned to decorate the apartment.
When I mentioned that the room across the hallway was mine, the twins were excited. I just told them it would be just like the first-year academy. We walked through my apartment, and the two bedrooms had no walls yet. I told them I was going to install a floor-to-ceiling window with one-way viewable glass. I had a great view of the skyships coming and going, and we all watched a few landings before heading back down.
Fera spoke, “I can not believe how awesome this building is Storme! I can’t wait to attend the academy in Aegis City and live here!”
I took all four women into town for dinner and was mostly left out of the conversation. Mia looked like she felt left out, and I had actually come up with a job for her while I had been enchanting the ovens. “So, Mia I hope you liked the building. I wanted to ask you if you also wanted to work for me,” her eyes popped already indicating she planned to say yes. The twins were grinning at the announcement. The twins liked everybody as long as you were not competing with them.
Mia eagerly asked, “Do you want me on your delve team?”
“No. I need someone to hire and run security for the warehouse and restaurant. There will be quite a few valuable enchantments throughout the structure, and the warehouse will hold a skyship and serve to hold our dungeon harvests. I need someone capable of hiring and managing a small group of guards. I am currently paying for security from the Miaden’s, but I am sure we can find competent guards for much cheaper in Hen’s Hollow and Solaris City. I would even be willing to sponsor them through the city guard academy here in Aegis City while they worked,” I explained.
I could see a worried look on Isla’s face as I mentioned ending the Miaden guard contract. The Miaden guards were tied to Loriel, and I wanted to break that chain as soon as possible. “How many?” Mia asked excitedly.
“I was thinking of you and nine others. Three shifts of three. Pay would be 25 silver a week,” I said, speaking off the cuff. As the guard captain, you would be paid the same but get an apartment for your use as part of your compensation.” Her eyes went wide, and she was nodding yes before her mouth caught up.
I was going to need guards, so this worked out well. Mia was smart and a capable fighter. Maybe I should have offered this position to my brother, but I felt Mia would be a good fit.
After dinner, the woman had an hour before the skyship returned, and they went shopping while I walked with Isla back to the warehouse. I gave her a few large golds to start paying the new employees and told her Remy would be taking over accounting shortly. I had enough time to add heating runes to the largest griddle and start enchanting work on the walk-in freezer unit. I would need to talk with Instructor Aethon during the week to get more enchanting materials. I paid him, and he had them transported from the family business in the capital.
With Mia and the twins with me, I returned to Hen’s Hollow.
As I was leaning on the railing, Mera came up to me alone and unsolicited, leaned into me, and kissed me. I was a little shocked but started to return her efforts. After a few moments, she broke the kiss, said, “Thank you,” and walked back to her sister, who congratulated her sister’s boldness. Mia was not on the deck, so she missed the display.
Maybe it had been a mistake on my part to return the kiss, but it was enjoyable. I watched the twins talk animatedly 20 feet away for a while before returning to my own thoughts. I needed to focus on my own development. Building the skyship was still my first priority. Maybe I would take up Isla’s offer to manage its construction. Just one more week of the academy and then an entire week in Aegis City. Maybe going into the dungeon and exploring the dungeon would be a nice break for me.