"Well, at least we can offer this much to the staff we’re hiring. Tena will be happy to know that there is a proper garden, even if it’s overgrown. We’ve got a tiller to make nice, soft soil for next spring, and plenty of field growth to bale feed for the animals." Dominic happily informed the Guardswoman.
"That is a good point. With this much, we might not have to go to the city with an extra truck to get vegetables in the spring. I know that we packed seeds, but I didn’t have high hopes." Ella replied.
"Actually, the gardens here used to be grown on a three section cycle. It doesn’t get cold enough that the garden won’t grow, and there should be enough water even in the dry season to keep the garden going. So, you can just plant every few months.
If we harvest a portion now, and replant it, we can start the process over." Dominic suggested.
"I will talk to Tena. She should know best." Ella agreed.
She had grown up in the Capital. Forget a whole garden, she hadn’t ever even tried growing flowers.
Jasmine, their farrier, came out to the barn as Dominic was inspecting the farming equipment, and Dominic heard her playing with the goats.
"Well, I’m not the only one they like, at least." He joked.
"Good thing too. Those beasts are a menace." Ella agreed.
"Ah, Lord Dominic. I see that there are no horses left. But we’ve got goats. I will work on the fences over the next few days, to keep predators out, so they can roam safely." Jasmine greeted them.
"We will get horses eventually. I swear, we didn’t call you here to do nothing. But you’re skilled at the forge, so there will be more than enough work even without them.
There is a Blink Cat upstairs, and it knows how to operate the barn’s magitech equipment. So, watch out for moving floor sections and falling hay bales." Dominic warned.
Both women looked up, and Dominic saw the cat staring down at them, one paw on a brass lever.
That was the one for the floor clean out, Dominic knew, not one that would drop a hay bale. But the cat was not at all embarrassed to have been caught.
Or it might have been taunting them.
Either way, he should likely warn people about all the exposed gears, mechanisms and pistons that were in the barn. Safety hadn’t been a primary concern because only people who belonged in the barn would ever enter, so there were no guards on the exposed mechanisms.
Besides, covering them wouldn’t look as cool.
"Let’s head back to the house. The goats look like they’re fine for now, and the garden can be tended once Tena is ready. How much of what is inside will we have to move out?" Dominic asked.
Ella shrugged. "Not much. We brought new essentials, and that will replace the damaged items on the first floor, plus any of the beds that are more than just musty with age.
But other than that, most of the house should be salvageable once we get it all cleaned.
The girls are started on the main floor first, so that the kitchen and common areas aren’t too bad. Then they will work on the bedrooms quickly before dinner.
The guards are already doing the basic cleaning of the bedrooms on the top floor, and there is a spare room where they will put anything that they aren’t using.
The hard part will be getting all the new furniture upstairs."
Dominic knew that she didn’t mean physically. They all had physical enhancement gems that would be at least at level ten, giving them double their natural strength.
If they physically couldn’t carry a piece of furniture up the stairs with two Royal Guards, it was never intended to be on an upper floor.
The trucks were quickly being unloaded, so Dominic joined in, bringing supplies to the pantry, where he handed it to Liz for sorting, or to the basement, where Beth was organizing all the bulk goods and extra items for storage.
The King had sent them enough to make it through a season before the crops would be coming in, not knowing that there was actually enough already here that they wouldn’t have to worry about it.
"I just wish that we had some milk. Not much fancy baking to be done without it." Beth sighed as Dominic brought down a pair of flour sacks.
"There are cans of condensed milk. But I would suggest that you talk to the goats. There are a bunch of them out at the barn, with a blink cat looking over them. If one of them is still lactating from a recent birth, you might be able to get a steady supply of goat milk." Dominic suggested.
Beth frowned. Goat milk and cow milk weren’t quite the same flavour. But until they could get a rancher to move here, goats would be more than enough.
They had brought chickens as well, so they wouldn’t run out of eggs. But the first few months would be lean, no matter what.
Dominic moved to explore the basement, checking it for any issues that the others might have missed. One section of wall stood out to him, being slightly wrong in colour compared to the others.
He placed his hand on it, wondering if it was a moisture issue, or if it was just a mismatched patch job.
However, when he touched it, the stone vanished, and revealed a large panel of magical runes and magitech orbs set into bronze.
"Well now, what do we have here?" Dominic muttered to himself as he read the runes.
"We’ve got lights, fireplaces, and a whole set of repair orbs for the house. Now, that is convenient. I can’t believe these are still here and undamaged. I thought for sure they would have been destroyed before the manor fell.
Perhaps because they were hidden, nobody bothered? Well, now I can save some time and money." He narrated to himself as he added mana to the various orbs.
Curses rang through the house, and Dominic turned the fireplaces back off.
"Oops. Guess I should have warned someone about that. I hope I didn’t damage anything important."
Probably not. Who stored things in the fireplace?