Chapter 222: Goats and Cats
Dominic was about to head back inside when movement in the garden caught his attention.
A small group of goats was munching on the few vegetables that were still growing wild in the garden, unmaintained for years. Those were likely the Manor’s livestock to begin with, but if there were more around, they could send the Royal Guard to gather them and either herd them into one of the barns, or just lure them into staying nearby with food.
There was more than enough hay growing in the fields for that.
The goats were happy to switch from the hay fields to the carrots in the garden for the day, and Dominic wondered just how wild goats got if there were no people around.
He had never seen them without the attention of a farmer, so he had no idea if they were actually an aggressive species.
Pigs left to go wild became a true menace, after all.
The question was answered for him when he took out a cookie to snack on, and the goats simply walked over to see if what he had was worth eating.
They seemed to be eyeing his horns, as if trying to decide if he was the strangest form of goat that they had ever seen. But most of their attention was on the cookie.
They were not a fan of John, though.
Even though he also had snacks, in the form of a biscuit from Beth, they decided it would be better to ram him to the ground, then steal the biscuit and stomp on him until Dominic came to rescue the fallen carpenter and pass out more cookies.
Once they had their snack, the goats retreated to the barn, and Dominic chuckled in amusement.
"This might be easier than I was expecting. But I should go and see what the interior of the barn looks like. I don’t know if the animals were turned loose or taken by the Dagos Army.
You should get someone to look at those bruises. And remind the others that the goats are somewhat domesticated, and not to be hunted."
John bowed, then limped back into the house, while Beth quietly laughed at his failed attempt to feed the animals.
Dominic walked to the barn, and found that not only were there no animal remains in it, the entire place was suspiciously clean.
As if someone had been tending it, or the door had just been opened.
There were dozens of goats inside, young and old. But they didn’t panic at the sight of Dominic.
Definitely still domestic. There should be a goat herder somewhere nearby.
Dominic caught the scent of something that was living, but not a goat, as he moved through the barn. But after a few minutes of searching, he still hadn’t found it.
That must mean it was above him, in the hay loft.
Dominic silently climbed the ladder, then crept between the bales, not wanting to scare off whatever was here.
However, what he found was not a person.
A Blink Cat, a type of magical feline beast, stared back at him from the far side of the loft. Its eyes were intelligent and sharp, then eager when Dominic brought out a slice of cured ham from a Dagos Ration pack.
"Have you been looking after the goats?" Dominic asked, hoping that the friendly tone would make the cat less wary of him.
But to his surprise, the cat nodded, and turned to look at a magical device on the wall of the hay loft.
Dominic gave the cat a second chunk of ham, then went to inspect the device.
It was just a collection of levers, but clearly marked in aged brass.
{Clean out rotor}
{Hay Drop}
{Hay Load}
Each of the lever sets operated a conveyor that performed an essential task of the barn. Someone would still have to muck out the stalls, if they were in use, but there was a system on the floor to sweep the mess away and dump it on the ground outside, where it could compost, or be used as fertilizer.
The others moved hay bales around.
Most of the loft was still full, so it hadn’t been used much. But that explained the state of the barn’s lower level.
The Blink Cat had adopted the goats, and had been keeping the barn cleaned for them to live in. Dominic didn’t even know that the creatures were intelligent enough to operate the mechanisms, but there wasn’t another easy explanation, unless there was actually a goat herder around here, who had decided not to touch the house for some reason.
Dominic spent a minute petting the cat, then left it some more meat and returned to the main floor of the barn.
Ella, of the Royal Guard, was standing at the door, looking annoyed.
"Lord Dominic, can you call off the attack goats? I came to see if there was any farm equipment left in the barn." She asked.
Dominic shrugged. "Probably not? I don’t actually know anything about raising goats. But let me check the barn. There is a door on the other side, which leads to the equipment shed, and not the animal barn."
"You could have started with that. I swear these things are trained to go for the kneecaps." She muttered.
Dominic chuckled as he patted the closest pair of goats on the head and went to inspect the back of the barn.
The tack room was still stocked, and Dominic made sure to latch the door behind him, so the goats didn’t get in.
Then he entered the equipment shed side of the barn, and gasped in appreciation of the sight.
In front of him was a single small steam tractor, and a handful of tractor-pulled implements. A swather for cutting hay, a baler, a tiller for mulching the earth for the garden plots better than a plow could do, and even a wagon with folding sides to load produce or hay bales on.
The water was all evaporated from the boiler, but that was easy to fix, and the tractor’s furnace reacted smoothly to Dominic’s mana when he tried to heat it.
"It looks like we’ve got what we need for the hay and the garden. We can make someone cut and bale hay tomorrow. It might be enough to make the goats like them." Dominic joked as Ella walked in.
"They really didn’t touch anything on the estate. All these years, and nothing has been moved or looted." She agreed.
’Almost like the locals all thought it was cursed,’ she thought to herself.