All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 255: Extreme Makeover: Void Edition

Bee slept fitfully that night. Perhaps it was just the feeling of being in an uncomfortable bed somewhere unfamiliar. But she was pretty sure it had more to do with the manor she was planning on buying.

She really hoped it looked better in the sunlight. She couldn't believe she was really having to go through with this, but it really did seem to be the best option. And if they could spend a little bit of time fixing it up, it would work even better.

As it was, it would still be better than camping. They had their tents and sleeping rolls after all, so in the worst case, they'd clear out a few rooms and spend a couple of days making it livable. But it would make a good base of operations if no one seemed to notice it. The purchase might raise some eyebrows, but her family getting into real estate wouldn't be that conspicuous. It would be, as the banker said, a good value add project.

As the sun rose and her thoughts whirled, she eventually rolled out of bed and looked around. Normally, Void rested under her bed overnight, but she hadn't seen her master at all ever since she got back. Shrugging, she went downstairs and found that Talia and Mrs. Chadwick had taken over the inn’s small kitchen and were cooking up a storm. Where the innkeeper was, she had no idea.

The few children and men sat around the table, eating and preparing to go out for their day's tasks. Bee joined in, snagging a plate of bacon as it was passed along. As she sat down, everyone paused their conversation for a second to look at her and see if she had anything to tell them.

She gestured for them to continue, and the breakfast resumed. Once she had eaten a little bit, she cleared her throat, and everyone's attention returned to her. "Everyone knows what they're doing this morning?"

They all nodded, but Bradley raised his hand. "Uh, no?"

He looked at Irene and Tanu next to him, each seeming confused. Bee groaned inwardly. She wasn't excited about the idea of having to explain that they wouldn't get tasks as they were children, and looking at the set of their faces, she realized they probably wouldn't accept that anyway. And so, instead of giving them free rein, she figured she'd give them a relatively safe task.

”I want you three to go out, play with the other children, and make friends. Don't show off your powers, ability, levels, or skills, and try to figure out what's been going on in the city. It's an important task, even if it doesn't seem like it. Sometimes kids have a unique perspective on things that adults miss.“ She was completely winging it. But maybe some good would come of this. Who knows, maybe they'd make some friends that weren't children obsessed with cleanliness and swordplay. She kind of doubted it, though.

The others all needed no more explanation. They had long since planned the roles they would take in gathering information and preparing the capitol's occupants for Lord Void's coming.

"We will likely be moving out here sometime later today, maybe tomorrow, depending on what sort of condition we can get the new place in. I'm going to be purchasing a manor house for us to use as a base of operations. So I suspect sometime in the afternoon you should all be ready to move.” A round of nods met the declaration. “All right. Make sure you all come back here for lunch. And if anything goes wrong…" Bee thought for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what they could do to send a signal to her.

"If anything goes wrong, pray to Void." She finished. Her faith sense had improved to the point where she could sense something like fluctuations in a person's faith. Praying seemed to act as an amplifier, something that temporarily strengthened the threads that tied her to her people. Not to mention that Void might hear those prayers and just help out itself.

Bee left the hotel soon after and made her way over to the manor house. She would be there just in time to meet the bank representative to confirm her purchase. It did mean she had to walk quickly and wasn't able to look around the city much, though.

She did want to stop and listen to a few of those white-robed men on the corners yelling. Normally, street preaching wasn't something she would be involved with, along with any other sane citizen. But given her current goals, it might actually be something she could learn from. Perhaps if these people were as weak-minded to yell about whatever god they were talking about. They could be convinced to change allegiance in the face of incontrovertible evidence of a divine power amongst them.

That wasn't the only reason she was interested, though. The foreign strands of faith that she detected from these people concerned her as well. How could these people possibly believe in Void? Had someone begun spreading the word here without her knowledge? If so, why did their faith feel so... strange? She shelved that idea for later and continued towards the manor.

When she rounded the corner and saw the manor’s outer wall, she winced. If anything, it looked worse in the morning. The moss-covered stone and creeping vines gave the cracked wall an almost haunted feel. But when she got close enough to see through the gate, she gaped in amazement.

All the graffiti and damage that she remembered had been patched up, though the broken windows seemed to have just disappeared. The grounds had also changed into a neat little garden with a few small blooms sprouting up from the flowerbeds. Everything had been trimmed neatly, and a lush lawn grew where previously only dirt had been.

This was not the same manor she remembered. Not in the least. Had the lighting truly played tricks on her?

She didn't have more than half a second to examine it before someone rounded the opposite bend. The professional-looking man in a tight-fit suit clearly represented the bank. He greeted her with a bow. "Madame D'Lestrange, it's a pleasure to meet you."

She returned an appropriate greeting, and the man looked over at the manor. His eyes widened in confusion, and he looked down to check his papers and then the sign at the corner of the road. "I seem to be in the right location... Yet this seems different than what I was led to believe."

Bee nodded. "It seems that it was in better condition than I had hoped when I first saw the documents. I was surprised that you were offering such good rates on this. Now, I'd like to get this over with immediately. I need to move my staff in as soon as possible."

The banker smiled nervously, wiping some sweat from his brow.

"Oh yes, of course, madam. I just need to check some details and make sure I brought the right documents. There might have been some mistake," he said frantically, looking through the stack of papers he had carried with him in a small leather satchel.

Bee smelled his nervousness and knew exactly what was happening. He was thinking he could change the deal and squeeze some more money out of her. He was a banker, after all. But as he flipped through the pages, she cleared her throat.

"There is no mistake, sir. I already signed the initial papers when I was at the bank branch, and this is only a confirmation of the purchase. A very smart option contract that your boss had laid out for me," she said, stressing the fact that the decision was already made well above his pay grade.

He would not take the fall for selling something clearly worth so much more than what she was paying for it, not when he didn’t make the sale. Of course, paying a bit more shouldn't matter too much, considering she was using her father's money. But still, a deal was a deal. She wasn't a little girl who would let herself get railroaded like this.

The man blanched, indecision warring on his face. Eventually, he handed over a stack of papers and a thin wooden board for her to write on. Bee scratched out the final signatures, and he countersigned before handing her a slip of paper that she read over. It was, in fact, the deed notarized by the proper offices in the government.

“Well, madame… have a good day,” the man said faintly as he handed her an iron key. She looked at the rusted gate, kind of doubting that it would work. "If you need any of our services, please do not hesitate to pay us another visit."

With that, the man turned around and left. Bee looked up at the manor and smiled. Before she could even step forward, Void materialized in the air just on the inside of the gate, waving happily with his little arm. Well. That certainly explained a few things.

---

I enthusiastically greeted Beatrice as she attempted to shove a key into a rusted metal lock of the gate. Her efforts were unsuccessful. It was rusted enough that she couldn’t even insert the key fully to attempt to turn it. I simply helped her out with a quick burst of my sanitation lamp to cut the lock, then pulled the squealing gates inward so she could walk through.

She smiled at me and closed the gates afterward. That was something else I'd have to repair, but I wanted to make sure everything else was good before focusing on that. Plus, Beatrice wanted to be inconspicuous.

Modifying the gates and walls would be a bit more obvious from the outside. Looking at the walls, though, I did like the vine-covered look. Maybe I would keep that or some semblance of it. It could still use a little bit of trimming.

"Master, it appears you've had a busy night," Beatrice said with a bow. I agreed and, with an enthusiastic beep, pulled out my paint chips and handed them over to her. She looked at them, confused.

"What are these? Colors? Paint chips? She held the little cards up to the house and squinted. "It's a rather bold choice of red.... but I could see it working."

She flipped the card over, seeing the address that I had printed on the back with the lightest application of my laser. "We can make a stop there later today, I suppose. I'm assuming you want to get enough paint to do the whole house?"

I nodded enthusiastically. Bobbing up and down in a facsimile of human agreement. She smiled. "Well, I'm sure it'll look amazing."

Before anything else, I pulled her inside the walls, excited to show her how the house had shaped up. We first made a tour around the grounds, and she made the appropriate sounds of amazement at my hard work. Honestly, this had been the most difficult part of the cleaning.

The plants hadn't really wanted to grow, but I found if I infused a little bit of energy, I could coax them along. It wasn't nearly as effective as the skills I had seen being used for growing, but it could speed things up just a fraction, if not fix issues. That was how I ended up with plants that looked several months overnight. I wasn't sure if I'd let them grow naturally or if I would continue working at it over the next couple of days to bring them up to speed; I'd probably just let them go, as that would be less wasteful. And who knew, maybe they'd surprise me with some interesting patterns.

When we went inside, I first showed her the massive crater and the unfamiliar summoning ritual. She looked at it, and we both examined it carefully for some time, but eventually, she shook her head. It appeared she didn’t have many more ideas than I did.

"I mean, it's clearly some sort of summoning," she said, “but it's hard to tell what's going on without reading some of the inner circles. And you're right. I don't recognize this language at all. I have a bad feeling about it, though." Beatrice traced one of the jagged characters on the ground.

With that out of the way, I went to show her the rest of the place. She was appropriately amazed at the windows I had installed and even loved the work I'd done with the chandelier. It had taken some time for the candles to marinate in my void, but now they produced continuous light without even having to be lit. This made the grand hall quite fabulous as motes of magical light showered gently down from the chandelier. Most of them dissipated before long before they even touched the ground.

"Now about that paint?" I asked.