Chương 23: Chapter 22 - And A Bit Overboard

"Who are you here to steal from me today?"

"I can't just be coming by to say hi?"

"This would be the literal first time you'd ever done that… so no, I don't think you can, Corbin." Daniel stood up, looking over his shoulder at me as he wiped his brow. The Danwood Lumber Consortium building had been speeding along in its construction. If I had felt like I was ambitious with Quiet's Hearth, all I ever had to do was look at the massive structure Daniel had drawn up.

Several large berths, with platforms already in place for eventual rails and blade systems, a large workshop presumably intended for eventual precision woodwork, and just so… so much storage space. The building towered upward, a second loft floor built with offices and presumably barracks for eventual growth. There was simply no way the current crew warranted that much workspace.

All together, the building spoke to the exact sort of optimism that had led a dozen men and their families into the middle of nowhere just to try and strike it out on their own. They just needed a little push. And that little push had really echoed out in more than just new business prospects. In just the last week six new families had moved into Danwood, the men coming to work for both Daniel and myself.

Yurick, more than happy to escape the mines and potential explosions, had not only been happy to take Willow's job offer, but had been quick to push to be my building foreman once he learned just how many projects I had lined up. Since I appreciated the initiative, and mostly because none of the other men had wanted the job, I tentatively said yes but did specify that I wasn't sure how long the position would last.

I didn't exactly think I'd need one forever, but giving them a sense of structure probably wasn't a bad thing. And overall, I had been rather happy with his work so far. The stable went up in practically no time, Quiet happily taking the lead stable without anyone even having to show her to it, and they'd moved on to the initial construction for Quiet's Hearth.

The basement had been dug out, mostly using my Trench spell while the workers hauled the dirt out of it, and the initial support structures had been built and sunk deep under the excavated basement. With all of it going so smoothly, I largely saw the inn on schedule to be finished by the end of the following week, maybe half-way through the next at most. Or I did until Yurick came to me with a problem that was only surmountable because Daniel and his crew were nearby.

Because while Yurick had been efficient and productive, the stupid way the world's innate system operated meant that none of my workers had enough training as basic, non-Activated woodworkers or stonemasons to make what I needed to ensure the inn didn't look like some rundown building where you were just as likely to get robbed as served ale. They couldn't produce cut planks of the required quality, and sealing a chimney the size we had planned would take them far too long.

Which was why I was once again bothering Daniel.

"Bram and Hugh," I admitted finally and Daniel rolled his eyes.

"At this point I'm starting to think Bram works more for you than for me," he said, shaking his head, then sighed.

"And I'm guessing Willow told you about our newest Activated?"

"Of course she did," I said with a shrug.

"But I figure he might like getting some Woodwright experience, unless you'd like to come and cut the flooring?"

"I thought you hired her to run Quiet's Hearth, not to be your informant and spy," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, then he looked over his shoulder and called Bram and Hugh's names.

"That girl's dangerous."

"I'm not in charge of what she chooses to tell me in passing," I shrugged again. I looked over and into the building where Hugh's head popped out from behind a wall.

"Suppose you're right," he agreed, looking back at me with a smile.

"How long do you need them for?"

"Hugh for a day maybe, probably less. My guys should be able to install the flooring once the planks are all cut. Bram… Honestly I need him for the chimney but I also need him for a few more foundations," I explained, looking from the Consortium back out to the homes.

"At this point, maybe he just needs to break out on his own and start his own company with how much stonework's gonna need to be done."

"Stars, don't let him hear you say that. Thomas is bound to join him just for the extra coin regardless of the fact that he'd technically have to work for his younger brother… There's some talk about expanding the area for homes and that means more streets and more foundations…"

"Bram Builds… Hmmm…" I murmured, trying to guess what the younger man would call the place.

"It's gonna be called Bram's Stone and Stuff," Bram corrected me, having clearly heard our conversation as he stepped up with a wide smile on his face.

"I'm not approving a business with that name," Daniel said, pinching the bridge of his nose again.

"Oh, so now it's just that I have the wrong name, huh? I can get past that," Bram added, waggling his eyebrows.

"Already convinced Thomas to be the lead when you said I was too young to run one. Even told him we could make it a family business… Sister Gwendoline's got him all worked up about the cost of babies." Hugh cleared his throat.

"What do yah need, boss?"

"Not about what I need. Corbin, it's your request," Daniel said, nodding back to me. He never told any of his workers to let me hire them… and I had no longer expected him to. It wasn't how they worked.

"Got a few jobs for you guys. Bram I've got some more foundations I need to get laid and then a chimney that's just about ready to go up," I explained and Bram was already nodding. I never doubted he'd be open to more work, especially when the alternative was just doing basic construction work around the Consortium instead of using his actual abilities. Hugh, on the other hand, I wasn't so sure of. I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but I didn't exactly think he was one of my biggest fans.

Still, I also wasn't going to let my uncertainty stop me from asking, especially when Daniel had reached level ten and was becoming more and more expensive to hire personally. Maybe I should have been annoyed that both Bram and Daniel were leveling their classes so much faster than I was… but I also wasn't really trying, so I tried not to let it bother me too much.

"Hugh, I'm looking to take one of the Great Oaks I purchased and cut it down into planks for the main floor. Think I can hire you for the afternoon to get those made up? Standard rate for an Activated, level times fifty silver per day, even if it just takes the afternoon," I offered. At only level one, it was still double what was considered the standard rate for workers, though it was notably lower than what I'd been offering people when I'd first arrived. Hugh looked over at Daniel, then back at the Consortium.

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"Er, I'm kinda behind schedule on the work I've been assigned here, we've got a few bays that still need racks set up and I've got to cut them. Plus I already agreed to a few other obligations with the new homes going up," Hugh explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It would only be for a few hours," I said, slightly caught off guard. While Hugh had been among the group that had voted to ask me to leave several weeks back, I hadn't really thought I'd done anything else to offend him. Was this a negotiating tactic?

"Or if you're not available today, maybe I could schedule some time?"

"I'm sure it wouldn't take too long, but truthfully my schedule's just a bit full right now. I don't wanna keep reorganizing it, sorry," Hugh said, then nodded to Daniel.

"Boss, I'm gonna get back to work here, those racks aren't gonna cut themselves." Without another word, he turned and walked away. I stared after him for a moment, wondering what just happened when Daniel let out a sigh.

"Sorry, Corbin. I probably should have told Willow that Hugh thinks you're going a little… overboard on everything. He's been saying the last few days that every time we turn around you're there asking us to put aside some of our work to take care of your projects. Kinda thought she'd decide she needed to give him an earful about how he's not thinking enough of the town with how proud she is at running a place."

"You could have told me he was just going to turn me down so that I could hire you instead…" I said, my lips turning down.

"I mean, I didn't think he'd actually turn down the extra coin if I'm being honest. All this is still just working for the Consortium's future," he said, gesturing at the structure.

"But that's how it goes. If you need immediate help, I don't mind taking a couple hours to help, I've mostly been trying to figure out the purchase order for the different parts here. Cutting some planks sounds oddly peaceful."

"Fine fine, standard rate?" I asked, dismissing the rest of it with a slightly annoyed wave.

"I'll do it for half my level's rate, don't exactly need to use the higher skills," Daniel said, offering out a hand that I shook to accept the deal. I certainly would have preferred to just pay Hugh, even with Daniel taking a lower rate I was still going to be paying him five times more at two-hundred-and-fifty silver, or two-and-a-half gold if I was trying to use the least amount of physical coins possible. I'd only been around for nearly seven weeks now and while I was still wealthier than…

well pretty much any individual local lord in the crown's influence, with no adventuring, treasure, or my usual methods of accumulating wealth; I'd been hemorrhaging coin practically nonstop. That would change some once the inn was up and running, and get even better once we were actively selling my ale, but if I didn't get my priorities in order… Well, again, I wasn't necessarily worried about becoming poor… I'd just have to heavily slow down my progress if I didn't want to leave myself without any safety net.

Though I couldn't remember the exact amount I'd had when Escape Artist had activated, I knew my total gold count had been well north of a hundred thousand. My resets always allowed me to retain all of my lower tier items and currency, but in almost every one of my lives, the wealth I'd truly accumulated had either been converted into fortresses protected by powerful relics, or it was stashed in treasure rooms full of magical jewels and the most powerful weapons and gear that wealth could forge.

All of which was always lost to me when I eventually and inevitably died. While my wallet still showed six digits, after spending nearly fifteen thousand so far between my land purchase, wages to workers, Quiet and the wagon, and then all the various materials and furnishing that Willow had gone back into Gold's Lodge to put an order in for that we didn't already have on hand, that was unlikely to stay the same by the end of the year.

Maybe I should have told her not to get the top of the line stuff but no amount of frugality was worth lowering the quality of what my tavern would serve. If I was going to do this, it was going to be done right. Daniel followed me as we headed back over for the inn, passing by a small area where tents had been pitched by the newcomers before finally coming to the large plot that had slowly been getting developed.

A large, squared off pit sat close to the completed stable, Quiet's head popping out a front opening near her berth where she whinnied in response to our approach. Willow had thankfully had the forethought to order rope fencing to block the potential hazard off before anyone fell and broke something.

"And here I thought we'd be waiting until tomorrow," Yurick said, climbing up a ladder out of the pit and brushing some dirt off of him. He walked over and shook Bram's hand.

"Good to see you again, Bram." Yurick had seemed to form an odd bond with Bram after they'd first worked together and though it had only been a few days now, it seemed like the two were becoming fast, if unlikely, friends. On their second day of working on the basement's foundations, I'd caught Yurick watching Bram swing his hammer with an expression I knew far too well. I'd seen it on soldiers who had lost friends younger than themselves—the cautious hope of someone who had found another person to worry over.

I hoped he'd eventually relax if he was planning on staying for longer than just my construction needs. Danwood wasn't a warzone, and I was slowly realizing I had no intention of letting it become one.

"Yurick, can you show Bram the plot for the brewery? We can't really start on the rest of the structure until the floor supports are laid out and we know exactly where the hearths will sit for the kettles. But since it'll be just the front half that we are going to connect into the cellar storage, have the crew start the foundation in the back and on the western side of the plot.

You've seen the plans, make sure the foundation for the fermentation section is thick enough to support those vats, then show him where the start of the chimneys for the brewing room will go."

"Want me to point out the other spot you mentioned needing a foundation for? The uh… malting room or whatever you called it?"

"I actually adjusted the designs. It's attached to the back there," I said, and saw his eyes gloss for a second as he looked at the shared blueprints I'd sent him.

"No problem boss," Yurick said with a nod before looking over his shoulder and whistling. Several heads popped up, having been working on sealing the last of the basement flooring around the main floor's support beams for the inn when he waved for them to follow.

"Moving on to the brewery already? Kinda… premature don't yah think?" Daniel asked curiously, crossing his arms.

"Better to have it prepared ahead of time," I said with a shrug and he raised a brow my way.

"Not much different than building a massive lumbermill for expansion."

"Well yah got me there," Daniel laughed, a bit louder than really necessary, then reached over and patted me on the shoulder.

"Oh great, you brought Danny," I heard Willow say, her head poking out from under a large canopy tent I'd pulled from my bag and put up. Since there were still some physical plans and things that needed to be managed, both Willow and Yurick had requested a spot to work from and this was a better solution than letting my cabin turn into the office.

"Yup, Hugh was busy so you get me," Daniel said, smiling back at her when she walked fully out. She pointed her finger over to a small stockpile behind the inn's plot.

"The Great Oak we need to cut is back there, here let me send you…" she trailed off, her eyes unfocusing for a moment before they settled.

"There, those are the lengths and amounts of each that we need."

"Gotcha, shouldn't take too long and–" Daniel stopped as his head started to turn back to follow where she'd pointed. When he didn't immediately start talking again, I looked down the road where he was still staring. Just becoming clear, there were no less than six wagons, all bearing the seal of the Royal Merchants. Daniel's eyes were lighting up and I let out a sigh that I tried not to let sound annoyed.

I could complain about the obvious thing this sudden arrival was going to do that would distract Daniel, and I'd only be proving Hugh's point if I did. So, as much as I wanted the floor to be prepared and ready to go down, I decided to be patient. Yurick and the guys did have enough to do for the rest of the day still…

"Go, take care of loading up the goods and getting your new saw in place… maybe you can just come by first thing tomorrow."