77. The Manor House 13

"Hello Melissa. This is a new thing to me and I have little knowledge of what you should be tested on in order to do the job of a steward. But that being said you have been recommended by the Lady Lyons as well as Aureus you are hired as far as I am concerned. But there are a few things that you need to be aware before you accept the position. My manor is not in the city but the village of Three Mines to the north of here. Also once winter hits it will be hard to get back here in the event of a bad storm. Do you accept those terms?"

"Yes, I can accept those terms. Lady you were right about him. He does not care about those things he really just wants someone that can do the job."

Before the confused Novum could ask the question that was on the top of his tongue the girl that was in front of him changed. The short heavy girl grew to be a tall beautiful young woman. He instantly knew that this was also a test for him as she did not want to be hired for the way that she looked. That was the double edged sword she had dealt with her entire life.

"Oh, okay that was a pretty clean transformation. So, now that you have accepted the position we will be leaving first thing in the morning. I have arranged for three extra carriages to move the orphans to the manor. The baron here was not doing things the right way so I am taking his place."

Earl Lyons belted out a laugh. "Taking his place. You beat him most of the way to death and got him thrown in prison. So, yeah I would say that you are taking his place."

"Earl Lyons."

"Don't say anything. We should be doing a better job as nobility on taking care of everyone. I am ashamed that I was not aware of the situation. And if you need any support let me know and I will do what I can to assist you."

"Thank you Earl. Honestly, now that most of the things I needed to do have been taken care of, I want to get on the road but I know that everything is not ready. I still have to slip over and make sure that my mages are ready to go. Still a lot of things going on. Melissa when you are packed and ready to go take your stuff to the carriage holding area by the marketplace and tell them it is my carriage and they will get you to the right one."

"Of course sir. I will have my stuff there shortly. Is there anything that you need me to take care of at this time?"

"No just get yourself ready to go and say your farewells. It will be a while before you are able to return. Oh, I do not stand on ceremony much so as for your attire you wear what is comfortable for you. If a known noble is coming it will be a little more formal but this is a working manor and I will not have you limited by your attire. If you would like to be armed weapons or magic I do not care pick something out that will be appropriate for you."

"Very well, Baron. I am able to use the arcane arts and use a small dagger. I am prepared with both already. And I have enough attire for any and all situations. I have also said my goodbyes in the event that I was hired on."

"Okay then. Earl and Lady Lyons. I hate to run but I have a lot to get done today if I am going to leave out of there in the morning. Thank you so much for you hospitality as well as the guidance on a steward. Please come and visit me soon." He gave the couple a deep bow of his head.

"I will come hunting in the spring." The Earl just gave them a wave and headed off the property.

Lady Lyons came up and gave both Melissa and Novum a quick hug. "We will come and visit soon. Take care of yourself and up there each other."

Melissa blushed at the hug. "Thank you Lady. I really appreciate everything that you have done for me."

"Nonsense child. Now you go and do great things with the Baron. I am sure you have heard things by now and from what I have heard the good ones are true."

"Some of the bad ones probably are too." Novum gave them a laugh and headed for the street. Melissa and Sara quickly caught up with him. "Okay so on the way to hire Sara along for a few days we need to stop by the church. I need to let them know a little about what is going on." The two girls just followed along without saying a word.

They entered the church and the young knight came to attention. "Baron, how may I be of service?"

"I need to see Crystal and Sister Katie." He looked over and all of the kids had clothes that were clean and none of them had holes. It was a lot better than the last time. The ones that were big enough also had bags that appeared to have extra clothes for not only them but a few had enough stuff for some of the little ones. He walked over to the young siblings from the other night. "How are things?"

Both of them gave him a deep bow. The sister spoke, "greetings Baron. The clothes are comfortable and clean and they are also not full of holes. The food has been amazing. The knights and sisters have taken great care of us. We were a little cramped last night but none of us were afraid to sleep. So there is that."

"And we were not fighting a rat for some blankets, so there is that as well." The younger brother was a little less formal than his sister.

"That is good. Thank you for the information. We will be leaving in the morning for my manor so there will be a lot of people moving out with cattle and all kinds of things. We will work to get everyone to the manor as soon as possible. Does anyone have any questions?" Not one kid raised their hands. About that time the Crystal and Sister Katie come out.

They came to the shop and another young woman was sitting at the counter. "Hey cousin. Granny was starting to worry about you."

"No she wasn't. There were no less than three people following along behind me making sure that nothing went wrong. Can you get her for the baron?"

"Fine. You are no fun." She leaned through the door and bellowed up the stairs. "Gran they are back."

"Bout time he brought my girl back. So, the array is installed and the agreement is reached what else could you want."

Novum pulled out another bottle of wine. "I was thinking that it would be a lot more efficient to have an expert install the array on the other end. I would like to hire Sara to come with my crew to install the array and then she will return through the array when she is done installing the array."

"You think you can come in here with a bottle of wine and buy my granddaughter?"

"No I am not trying to buy her I am simply using the wine as a bargaining chip so that you will allow me to hire her. I will escort her to my manor and then when she gets the array completed she will come back to the capitol to my house here through the array. There will be minimal danger to her or anyone else on this trip with me. I have a big group this time."

"What if I don't want her to go?"

"Well honestly she is an adult and if she decides to go there is little that you can do about it and she would be perfectly safe on my manor and I would void our agreement on my manor and help the city here to destroy your guild. But that is not that way that I would like to do things. You also need to consider her feelings in all of this. As a mage and as a person being contained in this shop all of the time will and probably already has stagnated her gifts. This will be a relatively safe trip that might be able to help her just a little in growing so that you have a more well rounded granddaughter."

The old lady did not look happy with him for the first have of that statement and even looked a little afraid of him. He was right on all accounts and it was not a sound business decision to go against him and he was not bullying per say only stating things that could be done. "Do you want to go with him?"

"I think it would be a good opportunity to get out of the capitol for the a few and maybe learn something even if it is only for a few days. Yes, I would like to go with the Baron and install the array."

"Okay then. It will be the bottle of wine for me and she would get the same rate as Topaz."

"Done. Thank you." He handed the lady the bottle of wine and a pouch of gold coins to Sara. "This is half up front. We leave at sunup in the morning. You can meet us at the holding area or you can come to where my crew is staying and I will get you a room."

"I will see you in the morning Baron." Without any more words he walked out of the shop. He still had things to needed to be sure of before they took off.