ALL NOVEL Chapter 67: Moving To Castle Xeneon
I decided to draw up a map to help myself and thought I'd share.
I should've done this a long time ago... Anyway, it's missing a lot of stuff, and the distances aren't accurate, but this should at least clarify some confusion about the directions... Thanks for reading.
Also, I updated chapter 21; if someone can read it and let me know if it still makes sense with the rest of the story, I'd appreciate it. (It should make sense)
A familiar carriage stopped in front of me.
I was relaxing on the patio with a novel in my hand. That’s all I’ve been doing these days, reading novels and biographies.
The carriage door opened, and Garth stepped out. Petra stepped down from the driver’s seat. She was looking much better these days, thanks to me - I bought her a suit, a tie, and a top hat. The top hat was her idea, but it looked good on her. She looked as pretty as a fresh flower.
I put the book down and sat up. “So, what did she say?” It’s been more than a week since I finished my list, and I’ve been sending Garth out to check on the mansion almost every day since.
Garth smiled, “Good news, master. She finished the main bedroom, the two bedrooms adjacent to it, the corridors, the entrance hall, the dining room, the kitchen, and they even fixed the outdoor pool.”
“That’s good, but…” None of that mattered to me. “What about the lab!? Did she finish the lab!?”
“Oh, yes. They finished it yesterday evening.”
“Yes!” I jumped up and pumped my fist. Then I looked around, feeling somewhat embarrassed… I cleared my throat, “Hm. Hm.” And said, “Okay, Garth, go tell the others. Petra, you go up and help with the luggage. You’ll probably need to make a few trips back and forth today.”
“Yes, big sis.” She nodded.
So we spent the morning loading up the carriage and transporting everything to our new home.
Finally, we decided to have lunch in the restaurant one last time before going to our new home.
“Can I see our mansion now!?” Benard shouted.
“Yes,” I said, nodding with a smile. “How about we let the boys go first?” I felt indisposed leaving the boys alone with Petra, but, “You think you can take them first?”
Petra, who was chewing on a chicken leg, vigorously nodded her head. “Yeah, I num can num do that.” She said with her mouth full and then proceeded to ogle all the boys. The three of us, Nikola, Terrie, and I, frowned.
“Yes!” Benard and Wilf high-fived each other. “Can I pick our bedroom?” He asked Terrie.
“The main bedroom’s mine,” I told him. It had the safe, so obviously, it’d be mine. It made me remember the safe I had in my mother’s palace. I should figure out a way to move everything to my new home. Rare items I had bought over the years and some sensitive documents still rested in those metal doors.
“Only 3 bedrooms have been renovated. So you don’t really have many options to choose from, Benard.” Garth told him.
“Oh.” He was disappointed.
“You can pick from the 3.” Nikola tried to be amicable.
“From the 2.” I corrected her. The main bedroom wasn’t for him. Nikola frowned; I ignored her.
“Okay.” He agreed.
***
There was room for 6 people in the carriage, so first Petra took Benard and others who were the most eager.
I returned our keys at the front desk and joined everyone else on the patio.
Terrie looked annoyed, “What’s wrong with her?”
“We don’t like Petra,” Nikola said. “She keeps ogling at the guys and… We don’t like it.”
“Just ignore it. She’s harmless.” I said.
“Maybe, but it’s annoying. Why did you let her join our sisterhood.”
“I didn’t really let her join…” A leader shouldn’t sound too uncertain in her choices; at least, that’s what I read in a book recently, so I stated, “She’s the driver. We need a driver. She’s demonstrated she’s perfectly capable of handling the horses, so I expect you all to treat her with some respect. If you can’t treat her like a sister, that’s fine… Ah…” I hadn’t given her a bracelet or disclosed anything personal to her, so even I wasn’t sure if I considered her a sister. “Garth, you’ve been in the carriage; she’s a good driver, right?”
“Ah…” He hesitated, and I grew worried, but he finally said, “Yeah, she’s okay, master.”
“See.” I smiled.
“Fine, she’s a good driver.” Nikola agreed. “But, she’s so…”
“What?” I asked since she didn’t finish her sentence.
“I just don’t like the way she talks to the men,” Terrie answered for her.
“And what way does she talk to the men that your puritan heart can’t handle?” I mocked her. I know Terrie means well, but she has a whole 'defend the men' attitude that can get annoying.
“Hrr.” She grunted. “You’ve spent the most time with her, Garth. How’s she like?”
“Ah… She didn’t do anything physical, but… she did tell me she had a 'tight' pussy.” Garth said, and we all winced. “Haha…” He laughed awkwardly and scratched his head, “Yeah, it was kind of gross.”
I tried to defend her. “We’re all adventurers. That’s not much for adventurers.” Adventurers are a crass bunch. But they both looked at me with disgust, and I had to back down.
“She just brought it up out of nowhere? What were you guys talking about?” Otto asked because he could understand if they were flirting or something.
“I don’t know…” Then he looked at me and mumbled, “I think we were just talking about how annoying it was to be sent out every day.” And loudly finished the thought with, “She said it randomly.” Then he looked over at Nikola and said clearly, “I wasn’t flirting with her.”
“I believe you.” Nikola gave him a solemn nod. “Maybe I should beat her up.” She cracked her knuckles.
“No.” He waved his arms. “You don’t have to do that. She didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, don’t do anything stupid,” I warned her.
“Pff.” She snorted and refused to look me in the eye.
“It’s amazing she’s not level 1,” Terrie said.
“What’s amazing about it? There are plenty of men that’d hump anything.” Otto said with undisguised disdain for such men.
“That’s true.” I agreed but without the disdain; I thought men like that were perfectly normal.
“Men like that don’t know their own value,” Terrie grunted.
“You have some skill that lets you figure out people’s levels don’t you?” Nikola asked. Though I don’t think I have ever explicitly told anyone my spells, they’ve been with me long enough to pick up on what I could do. Especially Nikola, who’s been in the dungeons with me. “What level is she?”
Petra had been throwing her pay into the brothels, so she’d recently become “level 6.” And if she keeps spending the way she is, “she’ll soon become level 7.”
“I guess the brothels take in everyone,” Terrie said.
“The brothels suck,” I added.
“I heard the brothel in Britamala has a lottery machine,” Nikola said.
“You’re not going to win,” I told her. I had played the machine many times in the game. It was a slot machine that went up to 12 plus jackpot. You hit the jackpot, and they let you sleep with 13 men, and you get to choose which men. From 0 to 12, the number of men you get corresponds with the number, and they choose which men you get. I’ve hit 0 more times than I can count, and I’ve never hit the jackpot in the entirety of my previous life. The machine’s rigged! It’s a con! I couldn’t hit the jackpot even while playing as a level 102 Luck magician; that’s impossible unless the machine’s a cheat. Though I did break the machine that time.
“You don’t know that.” Nikola protested.
I shook my head, “Here comes the carriage; let’s go. And don’t say anything stupid. I’m looking at the both of you.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.” They dismissively said.
***
As soon as we pulled into the front of the mansion, Otto said, “Oh, it’s big.”
“Yeah, didn’t we already tell you?” I asked.
“It’s different when you see it.” He said.
“They painted the walls,” Nikola said.
“I told you it’d look good when it’s renovated.” The mansion looked brand new.
“Bella did a good job,” Terrie said.
I nodded.
When we stepped out of the carriage, I said, “You guys go in. I’m going to go check on the lab.” I paced off to the back of the mansion before they even realized what I had said.
The moment I saw it, I was smitten. The brown and broken shack had transformed into a beautiful lab. The walls were white, a chimney shot out the roof, and an entire section was added to the side. I opened the door and went in. It was impeccably clean. The metal tables I wanted were bolted to the ground. The furnace I wanted had been installed as I specified at the end of the room. Then there was a door on the side of the room that wasn’t there before. It led to a section of the building that didn’t exist before. I opened the door, and cool air rolled out lazily. It was the storage room I wanted. The lab was nearly perfect; the ceiling looked kind of messy with the various vents and pipes. Now, all I needed were the ingredients, the tools, and some assistants.
I marched back to the mansion with a big smile. When I entered, Bella saw me and said, “There you are.”
“Good job with the lab. It looks great.” I said.
“Oh, yeah, you’re welcome.” She smiled. “But I didn’t come for that. I have to show you the passcode for the wall.”
“Right,” I remembered I had asked her to change the method for opening the wall.
“Come on.” She led me to the main bedroom. We saw Benard running towards us as we walked, wearing nothing but a speedo. “Going for a swim?” She asked him.
“Yeah.” He smiled as he ran past us.
“You’re a lucky woman.” She said after he was gone.
“He’s not mine. He’s Terrie’s.” I said.
“Oh.”
Neither of us talked after that till we reached the main bedroom. Then she opened the door while she spoke, “We took your suggesti-”
“Yaaah!” Two men covered themselves.
Bella got a glimpse of their handsome dingalings. “Sorry!” She yelled and quickly closed the door. Our eyes met, and she apologized to me, “Sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. They should’ve closed the door.” We both looked at her hand, which was holding the door handle.
“This door doesn’t have a lock.” She said.
“I see.”
We stared at each other, and finally, they said, “You can come in.”
“I’ll let you open it.” She moved aside and gave me the handle.
I opened the door, and they were both in their speedos. “You guys are going to the pool?” I asked.
“Yeah, aren’t you coming?” Otto asked.
“No, and if Garth is there, tell him he has work.” Now that the lab’s done, I have a lot to do. I’ll be busy again in no time.
“Oh, okay. He’s not going to like that.” Otto said.
“Well, too bad,” I said.
“Why did you guys barge in anyway?” Sterling asked as he consciously or unconsciously adjusted his body ever so slightly, so his peen wouldn’t be pointing at Bella. Otto also adjusted his body so his front wouldn’t be pointing at her.
I wasn’t sure if they were doing it on purpose or not, but they were both pointing it toward me. I smiled and said to Bella, “Close the door, show them.”
“Are you sure?” She asked. Since I hadn’t told anyone else, she assumed I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone.
“They’re going to be living here. I won’t be able to hide it from them.”
“Okay.” She closed the door.
“What’s going on?” Sterling asked.
I turned to Bella, and she said, “Yeah, so we took your suggestion and added intricacy to the switch - lamp - as you wanted.” She demonstrated it by pulling the lamp 45 degrees, turning it 90 degrees, then finally turning the top 90 degrees. The magic on the wall activated.
“Wow,” Sterling said as the wall opened. Behind it was a metal safe.
“Right now, the combination is 00-01-02-03. You might want to change it.” Bella said.
“Oh, I’ll change it,” I said. Then I turned to the boys and put my index finger to my lips before saying, “Keep this a secret from everyone else.”
They nodded. “Okay.”
“Well, that’s everything I wanted to show you,” Bella said.
“Alright, how do I close it.”
“Oh, just spin the top back, turn it the opposite way, and that.” She returned the lamp to its original position. The wall’s magic activated again, and it closed.
“Alright, thanks. I guess you have a lot to get to.”
“Yeah, the basement got flooded when it rained, so we have to pump out the water and then make the flood-proof renovations. It’s going to take double the time.” She sighed.
“Oh, so it won’t be finished by the end of this month?”
She shook her head and said. “We’ll try, but no guaranty.”
***
Garth showed up at my room in his speedos. “You called master?”
“Get changed,” I said and handed him a list. “You’re going shopping.”
“Oh.” He unenthusiastically looked at the list of ingredients.