Chapter 331: Get It Done
Dominic left them to sort out the details while he discussed the structural details with Sunni and the male mages of the Purity Sect that he had taken in as his work crew.
With so many mages, the projects were completed in record time, and it was actually the interior details that most of the new buildings were waiting on.
The mages were good at rough work, but if you wanted a smooth planed floor, decent looking cabinetry, or other details, you still needed a carpenter. What the mages did was primarily just to assemble the building itself, and run the plumbing, so that someone else could put in the finishing details.
"So, we need a large common area with separate event areas so that the officers can be divided from each other when tensions are high, and then an underground event area, with a separate entrance that is disguised?
Why does this sound shady?" Sunni asked as he read Dominic’s blueprints.
"Not at all. Think of it like a private gentlemen’s club for after hours events that aren’t officially sanctioned by their commanding officers. That’s where all the real work gets done, so we might as well build it into the plans." Dominic offered.
Sunni smiled. "I get what you mean, Your Grace. We will certainly want the Adventurer’s Guild for this one.
The Merchant’s Guild is good for many things, but for an after hours retreat that isn’t an auction, they’re not the best choice. Everyone expects them to be trying to make money on anything they touch."
Dominic chuckled at his confirmation of their reputation.
"The Guild is just getting trounced today. Everyone has the same opinion of them. Is there someone else that we should look for, other than the Mercenaries or Adventurers?" He suggested.
Sunni shook his head. "No, they’re the best choice. In most big cities, the casinos are run by the thieves’ guild. But I’m sure you can understand why they’re not the best option for an unofficially sanctioned event.
We can start on the building right away, and have it all ready to go in two days. The problem is that we won’t have any of the furniture or gaming tables available. So, it might work as a grand ballroom, but that’s about it until we get another shipment."
Dominic frowned. "Well, we can only do what we can do. I will have to keep the officers entertained until then. But on the bright side, we’ve got volunteers to bring fresh produce deliveries, and medicines, to the troops."
The architect laughed. "I swear that a group of soldiers could stop in a village of vestal virgins and come back with things that medicine has no name for. It’s a good thing that the witches are willing to work with you.
But that gives me an idea. We could set up a portion of the new building as a clinic.
The healer and the midwife are happier living out in the woods, but that’s a long way for the sick and injured to go. We should try to find a doctor, or get the Troll to come to town to work."
Dominic considered that, and shook his head. "I will look for another solution. Mostly he does house calls now, and I can’t see him being comfortable with a shop in town. His wife might be, though. The midwives are also mostly on call, though.
Perhaps we need an apothecary shop instead? They could fill prescriptions from the witches, or the midwives."
Sunni shrugged. "Not really my department. But I will design the building to have a shop off to one side. If nothing else, the Guild can use it as their office."
"Then the last question is where do we put it?" Sunni asked.
Dominic calculated the answer for a moment, then smiled. "Put it on the west side of town, near the heroes memorial. Adventurers like that sort of sombre reminder, and the only thing on that side of town is the market.
Putting all the adventurers near the market, and as far as possible from the Manor, will create a second line of defence if we’re attacked.
It will also cut the response time to the fields on that side of town."
And give the illusion that the Duke was not paying attention to what went on through the side door of the building.
"And for expanded visitor lodging? Just the upper level of this building? Or are we doing another Inn?"
Dominic shook his head. "No need for one yet. The officers of the visiting armies can stay on the upper level of the new building, party on the main, and hide in the basement. All in one functionality. Then, when they’re not here, it can earn enough for cleaning staff off the adventurers."
Sunni made notes, and a few adjustments to the blueprints.
Dominic had gravely miscalculated how many adventurers they were likely to get here, but he wasn’t going to tell the Duke that they were going to need another building in the next few months once everyone started to show up here.
He had enough work already, and there were airship docks to build after this.
"Alright, boys. Let’s get on this. It’s a simple structure, all stone. So, we will hammer as much of this out today as we can, and then we will start on the airship docks."
Fortunately for Sunni, the King of Cygnia had not intended to leave him to suffer alone when Wistover was chosen to host the political meetings. Only hours later, while Dominic was making his rounds of the farms and hunters houses to ensure that everyone knew what was going on, two Cygnia airships appeared on the horizon.
Both were filled with techno mages and magitech construction workers, ready to build the facilities to house the meetings, as well as the airship docks.
Sunni wasn’t the only one shocked by the situation, though. Prince George of Mitfield hadn’t known that they were going to send a full construction team to Wistover, and the construction team hadn’t known that Prince George was going to be here before they arrived.
They had expected to show up to a rural village with a hundred impoverished farmers, not a growing small town with active industry and ten thousand soldiers on their doorstep.