World Sphere - 55 - Floor Plans

Chapter 55: Floor Plans

Was this some kind of joke? A Bricio? Why would Loriel send a member of Bricio family? The Bricio family was everything that was wrong with Skyholme. Power-hungry, manipulative, and willing to exploit others to achieve their goals.

“I am sorry, Isla, but I think I was hoping for…” I started to say, as I searched for the words to avoid sounding like an ass. I also didn’t want to make an enemy either.

The young architect looked at the people around the table and pursed her lips. Bylura spoke first, “Isla is a good friend of Loriel. A good friend, Storme. She has been helping Loriel fend off the marriage proposals of Abaddon Bricio. You can trust her.” The wolf girl sounded annoyed that I didn’t trust Isla immediately. Truthfully, I really didn’t trust Loriel either. I had just hoped she would send me someone competent—and someone unaffiliated, but I should have known better.

Isla sat across from me and steeled herself, “Can we talk privately?” I sighed and asked everyone to give us the table. When we had the table to ourselves, she leaned in and spoke confidently to me. “My name is Isla and I am Bricio. I ask you don’t look at my name, though. My father may have been a Bricio, but I don’t associate with him or my extended family.” Her brown eyes looked pleading. “Since I don’t see eye to eye with my father or family, it has been difficult getting jobs in the field that I spent my years at the academy learning.” 

I looked at the woman with her pulled-back dark blonde hair. Her face now showed vulnerability and uncertainty. “So Loriel sent you to me as a charity case?” The phrase confused her for a moment as she puzzled out the meaning.

“Charity? I will have you know I am a damn fine architect!” Her voice was heated as she started to get angry. 

“Calm down. If I hire you, will I draw the ire of the Bricio family? And what are your rates?” I got defensive since she had become angry. I was searching for other reasons not to hire her—reasons that she would offer herself.

She paused and then spoke, “My father hasn’t prevented me from getting jobs. The Miaden’s have. Architecture is their purview in the islands, and they have a number of family members in the field. So not only am I a woman, but I have the wrong last name.” She took a long exhale. “As for my rates—how is a ten gold retainer and 20 silver a day?” She asked hopefully.

The rate seemed reasonable. But I needed to decided if I trusted Loriel. Was using me as a pawn on a chessboard to attract the Bricios from her? Isla seemed genuine, and maybe she was innocent in the political scheming. Maybe hiring someone with the last name of Bricio would keep the Bricios from looking at me more closely. 

“What are your ideas on my new building?” I asked skeptically, trying to stall. I was at least willing to listen.

The woman smiled and pulled out a pamphlet of papers, “Loriel got your entire building and the land behind it flexed. You can have virtually any type of building on it. Please remember you promised Loriel that you would hold one of the apartments for her use. Here are sketches of my ideas from what Bylura told me you wanted.”

I paged through her drawings. She had the entire first floor with a row of shops facing the plaza. She had 40 spacious apartments on the second and third floors. I looked through the drawings, and she had done an excellent job in such a short time. It was not what I had envisioned but had elements of what I wanted. 

“I can see you put a lot of effort into this. I was thinking that a third of the building would remain a very large warehouse, 100’ x 100’ in size, with a 40’ ceiling. The side facing the city wall would have massive doors to allow a small skyship to enter. The rest of the warehouse would have three floors.” I sketched my own rough drawing for her.

I continued, “I think at most 20 apartment units, but each with two bedrooms. The first floor would feature a restaurant and bakery, both facing the main road. And the most important thing is a very large kitchen and cold storage pantry.” Isla had taken notes while I spoke.

She looked at me seriously, “Give me a day. I will remain in town. I will show you what I can do.” She continued to ask me questions and take notes for the next hour. I admitted to myself that she impressed me even before I saw the final draft. I slid her a large gold coin before she left to retain her services. She nodded and left with a smile on her face.

Bylura came up to me after Isla left, “So, did Loriel do good for you or what?” 

“Isla seems competent. Are you headed back to your mistress now?” I asked the wolf girl.

“Nope,” she said excitedly. “I am to keep an eye on you.” My eyes narrowed, and she gave me a wolflike grin. 

“I have been given a Proctor de Factum badge for your academy. I am the official Triumvirate Auditor of Hen’s Hollow First Year Academy!” The wolf girl was practically jumping in place. She explained, “I am to observe your academy class for 90 days and write a report for the Skyholme Academy Primus. It governs the monetary funding for all first-year academies.” The girl said excitedly.

My head started to hurt. I didn’t want to be under a microscope. “Can you even write? Aren’t you younger than me?” Each question was like a body blow to the wolf girl, and I felt guilty afterward for taking my anger out on her. She was just another tool of Loriel.

She sat hard on her seat. “I can write and I am nineteen!” she said morosely. “The auditor badge belongs to Loriel. She called in some favors to secure the auditor position to protect you. It doesn’t require the auditor to actually be present to do the assessment, so she gave the task to me.” She bowed her head. “I am to inform Loriel if anyone else makes a move to solicit your services.”

“Why me! Gareth won the tournament, not me!” I said with exasperation and helplessness.

Bylura looked up and spoke slowly and carefully, “I am watching your friend too. Loriel is not a bad person…” My gaze of annoyance stopped her from trying to convince me of Loriel’s good intentions.

I sighed, “You can go tell Callem and show him your badge. He is in charge of the academy training. I am sure he will love to have a pup underfoot.” I wasn’t sure why I was angry at Bylura. I think it was just because I was angry that Loriel had her eyes on me, and Bylura was going to be a constant reminder. The sooner I built a skyship and had the freedom to leave Skyholme at a time and in a manner of my own choosing, the better.

Bylura slunk away from my angry stare, and it allowed Freya to return. It looked like I had lost the rest of my time working with Selina today as the archmage had left already. I decided to head to the swimming hole with Freya and Monty.

Swimming was a release, but it suddenly made me feel old with all the young kids from town here. Had I really grown this much in a few months? I think I was feeling the pressures of being an adult and I didn’t like it. I was certainly being treated like an adult by Callem. The question was whether I should embrace it or not.

“Storme?” Freya got my attention. “What do you want for your 16th birthday?” I looked confused and then remembered I was going to be 16 this year. 

“My birthday is four months away!” Freya looked crushed, so I offered her something. “Just get me a few chocolates from Sweets and Treats,” I said, giving her a relatively easy quest.

“I know just what to get you! The twins love chocolate honey clusters,” Freya said excitedly. I ignored Freya’s excitement as she listed off Gareth, Callem, and Aelyn’s favorite sweets and never mentioned asking me what I liked once. I didn’t have a strong sweet tooth, well maybe for ice cream, so I didn’t care what she got for me. Gareth was probably going to eat most of what Freya gave me anyway.

As the evening closed, I returned to the barracks to study a little and get some much-needed rest. The building was still mostly empty, as most of the students had not yet returned from their day off with family and friends. They were likely having dinner with their families. Or, in Gareth’s case, he was probably sneaking off with Brianne somewhere.

I took out the actual lightning reflexes spell book. My hubris in trying to learn a tier four spell was physically in front of me. I wanted to fling it across the room in frustration. I had other spells I could learn much quicker. Aether shield, for one—and that one was only tier two. The arcane lock spell was the only tier one spell I had that I hadn’t learned, and I was certain I could learn it in less than a week. 

I paged through the spell forms for the lightning reflexes spell. They were just so complex. Even Selina, being an archmage, said she only had three tier four spells and nothing higher.

She encouraged me, but I knew she thought I was too early in my development for a tier four spell. I locked all my other spell books in a trunk in my dimensional closet. It was more symbolic. I wasn’t going to touch another spell book until I learned this spell.

I cocooned myself in an opaque privacy egg and tuned out the world after setting my alarms and emptying my aether pool by making platinum. Gareth returned to the room two hours later, but I didn’t leave my study bubble. 

The next four days of training went surprisingly well. My saber session with Callem showed a marked improvement. My session with the staff had me teaching the twins, and they had made huge gains as responded well to my instruction. Their aether manipulation had also gained considerable ground. They were thirsty for praise from me, and, of course, I did praise them frequently. 

Bylura did make daily appearances. Usually, she would stand next to Callem for an hour and ask him questions while watching us. She always had lunch at the instructor’s table as well. She ignored me to show her displeasure with me but I was okay with it.  

The rest of the week had me working hard on the spell imprinting, but it felt like I was trying to run up a greased incline. The faster I ran, the more effort I expended, and I was no longer feeling like I was making progress. I was desperately looking forward to the off day when I could sit with Selina and get advice one-on-one.

Unfortunately, Selina canceled on me the day before! At first I was angry, but remembered she had planned to check on her descendants on the capital island.

She did leave me some notes to help me. I was in my room alone when Elora came knocking, “Storme, since Selina can not teach you today, do you want some personalized staff practice?” Of course, Elora would ask. She taught me during four classes a week, but my role had been switched, mostly helping her instruct instead of being her student. I did spar briefly with Elora, but it only served as a demonstration for the rest of the class.

“Sure, Elora. I have a few hours and need a break from this stupid spell!” Hitting things with sticks was always a great stress relief. 

It was the best practice session I had had with the staff as I worked out my frustration. Elora taught me a few interesting sequences and a few feints that I thought might even work on Gareth the first time I used them. We practiced for five hours! I could believe it until Elora said I should go and rest up, and I had done enough for today.

In the evening, Gareth came into the room with a stupid grin and a massive hickey on his neck. “Stormy, how was your day? Have any sweets?” I produced the bag from my storage and handed it to him. Almost nothing was left, and after Gareth helped himself, there was just an empty bag.

“Stormy, can you cook us some dinner? I think the twins will be back soon. They went to see their parents this morning. How about some pizza?” Gareth suggested. 

I looked at my friend, who was smiling and extremely happy. A knock at our door found Bylura and Isla standing there. Isla spoke, “I thought you would have come by the tavern today.” She looked unhappy.

“Oh, I thought you would have sent Bylura when you were ready to show me,” I said, and I looked at Gareth, whose eyes were locked on Isla, who was wearing a tight yellow top and tight black pants. A light blue coat hung on her feminine frame. It was probably a blatant attempt to seduce me, but I was not fooled. “Let’s go to one of the classrooms for privacy,” I said to Gareth’s disappointment. 

I was keeping the project secret to surprise Gareth when it was finished. He knew that I planned to open a restaurant in Aegis City, but he didn’t know I also planned to build it as a base of operations for my personal dungeon team.

Once we were in the room, I anchored a few privacy screens so no one would overhear or see the plans Isla was going to show me. I also thought about telling Bylura to leave but figured she could always get the information from Isla later, so it was not important that she was included.

Isla produced the first-floor plan. It did have the north section of the building listed as a warehouse, and the hanger doors were large enough for me to build my own Wind Splitter. She had detailed out the mechanicals for the large door. “No windows,” I said after studying the hanger section. “I don’t want any windows in this section at all because it will serve as the hanger for a skyship.” She made some notes to correct her renderings. 

The first floor flowed south into a dedicated warehouse that was 50’ by 100’ on the first floor. “I want a large set of stairs here going all the way up to the third floor and even onto the roof.” The ceiling for the first-floor section was fifteen feet in height. The second floor of the warehouse was listed as warehouse floor two.

“On the second floor in the middle here is going to be a brewery. Please draft in the appropriate equipment and storage. You can order the equipment as the restaurant will brew its own ale.” I flipped to the third floor and back to the second floor few times.

“This part of the third floor is going to be a recreation and training room. This section here can be made into a common room. The rest can be for combat training so keep the area open and add plenty of aether lighting.” I flipped but didn’t see any plans for the roof.

“I wanted gardens on the roof to supply some fresh produce for the restaurant. Nothing too fancy. Just a nice simple place to relax and watch the skyships come and go,” I said. Isla smiled, imagining it and made notes. As I was studying the plans further, she asked a question.

“It looks amazing of paper, but what you are asking for is going to require a lot of reinforcement in the structure and quite a few stone mage hours to build.” Was she doubting I had the funds?

“No worries, Wynna and Callem have assured me they have the coin. Once I get the plans mostly approved, you will also have to get their feedback.” She nodded but still seemed a little skeptical.

“How much to reserve the services of a stone mage and construction crew?” I asked, sounding a little haughty. 

“About 500 gold for a week for the best crews of five. 200 gold for one of the less experienced crews of three,” Isla estimated. I kept flipping through the plans and casually dropped 20 platinum from my dimensional storage on the table.

“Are you willing to work as my foreman to supervise the construction?” I asked, looking at the first floor again. I was studying the massive kitchen, food storage restaurant, bakery, and restrooms this time.

“I…I do have the required licenses to do so…” Isla said staring at the twenty platinum spread on the table. 

“Excellent, you are hired. Take your fee from the….” I waved at the coins. “You can hire the best available crew, and when you need more, just let me know, and I will get it from Callem. Now the bathrooms in the restaurant need to be expanded, and I want this area to be walled off this area here for a private dining and function room. The bakery is slightly too small, so let’s add a bit here. I also want the staff to have lockers, so put them on the back side of the restrooms.” She hastily made notes as I rambled on.

“How do you want to supply water to your building?” she asked. “There is no access to the city water, just the city sewers.” I looked at the building and pointed to the roof.

“Can we add a water tank here and have gravity-feed water to the building? We can fill the tank with water enchantments.” I said after looking over everything.

“If we move your water tank here, I think it is possible, as this wall can better support the weight,” she said. We talked about the plumbing for the structure. Magic had replaced much of technology inside the Sphere, but they still knew the principles.

Our meeting lasted another hour as we refined the building. She had twenty two bedroom apartment units; the only negative was that the second-floor units facing the adjacent warehouse would not have a view. The third-floor apartments on that side were a few feet above the roof of the building. I was still torn on whether to give the apartments small balconies. Other than that, I felt this revision of the building plans would meet my expectations.

Isla seemed to be energized by the changes or maybe having the platinum in hand to start implementing her plans. Bylura obviously hadn’t been able to read the plans, and resorted to just listening, and hadn’t supplied any input. The two left together, and I returned to my room. I surprisingly found the twins on my bed talking with Gareth. They made space for me to sit between them.

“How was the visit with your family?” I asked the twins.

“It was hard. So much is going on at the farm. Our brother’s wife is about to have their first child. Demand for eggs is down, so our father is trying to expand into beef, but the permits to raise cows are so expensive,” Mera said tiredly. 

I didn’t want to get their hopes up, but maybe I would supply my restaurant with ingredients from the farmers around Hen’s Hollow. Depending on how fast the builders worked, I was still months away from opening. And that would all depend on construction going smoothly.

“Mera, you have a tier two ability called fermentation. Would you be interested in employment? Gareth probably told you I am trying to open a restaurant in Aegis City. There is the possibility a small brewery may be included.” Mera’s eyes went wide. Any tier two ability was extremely powerful. 

“You would hire me?” She sounded dumbfounded. 

“How does one gold a week sound to start? Well, I mean you cant start until after we finish the first-year academy. I would sponsor you to an academy in Aegis City so you could work the brewery.” Her jaw dropped. Fifty gold a year was a massive sum. “Of course, you need to work hard for it. Your ability can expedite the maturation of ales and spirits, so your skill has a lot of value,” I added. Fera, on my right, was squeezing my arm and was telling her sister with her eyes to accept. I looked over to Fera.

“Fera, your ability was harvest? There will be a small garden for growing produce and herbs for the restaurant. I would be interested in hiring you well and paying for your academy as well in the city so you can attend with Mera. How does 15 silver a week sound?” It was much less than Mera’s pay, but her plant growth ability was tier one and not that rare. There were some spells could do the same thing as the harvest ability as well.

“Stormy are you going to hire me as well,” Gareth said in a mock pleading tone. “I can be a taste-tester or carry the ale barrels.”

“I am going to need waiters to serve food, Gareth. I can pay you two silver a week,” I said seriously. A pillow flew at me so fast it knocked my head into the wall. The girls came to my defense and retaliated with pillows from my bed. It was almost a fair contest, us three against Gareth, but he could catch and return pillows with ridiculous speed. He targeted me much more frequently than the twins. I wished I had my lightning reflexes spell at this time. 

The girls eventually went to their room after one of the pillows exploded in a storm of feathers, but I promised when the restaurant opened, we would make a formal contract of employment. I had been wanting to snag Mera’s fermentation ability as soon as she revealed it. Things were coming together nicely.