Chapter 85

Inside the keep, Mythia was already asleep so Ben didn't disturb her. He left and walked over to the Seamstress and Tailor to search through vintage Earth clothing and uniforms.

Ben asked Athena to send the measurements of all the new employees to the fortress workshops once he had an idea of what outfits and uniforms he wanted to make.

The first uniforms to begin production was the Restaurant waitress uniforms. This would be a formal style restaurant so he decided to make a classy uniform for the waitress. They would wear a black satin vest, a white button up long sleeve shirt, a black thin ribbon necktie, black slacks, black cushion sole loafers, and a black waitress apron with pockets around their waist.

The cooks would wear the same uniforms which were made for the cooks at the Small Palace. They wore the typical white chef's coat with white slacks and white cushioned loafers.

At the Cabaret, the waitresses would wear a 1920's vintage flapper one shoulder red sequin fringe dress and low heel red lace shoes with red fishnet stockings.

Over at the hotel, the maids would wear the same french maid uniform that the Small Palace maids now wore with the longer extended skirt.

Each of the new businesses would have male cashiers at the exits and Ben decided to have them wear an all-black suit with red ties and black leather wingtips with red soles. The Elevator Operator at the Observation Tower would also wear the same outfit as the male cashiers.

Ben planned to keep his Stables private and would allow the Stable Master and Stable Hands to wear what they wanted to work.

As he double checked all the uniforms and had begun production on them he moved onto making clothing for the Theater. The actors and actresses would need a wide selection of clothing to perform plays so he would need to make both male and female outfits for them to use on stage.

He chose to make 18th and 19th-century fashions. Ben picked out clothing from all the different classes of society from those times. If his performers had to play commoners, nobles, or royalty they would need clothing that matched the part. He couldn't have them acting as farmers while wearing beautiful court dresses.

He planned to make extras of the outfits he liked in different sizes to sell off the rack at his store. His clothing department was lacking in selections and this would give his customers a much wider selection of clothing to pick from.

For the next couple days, Ben hung around the fortress and went to workout with Mythia and made some attribute gains. He had spent too much money to continue building and wasn't ready to open his new business district yet so he hung around spending time with Mythia.

Two days later Ben used Zoom to teleport to his store office and took the past couple days sales money from his desk. He left his office and went into the basement and wanted to build a new structure but there was no longer any room. The second floor was now packed with structures and there were even a few which were partially placed in the walls because he had run out of space.

His only option was to continue digging down. On the third floor where his makeshift prison and morgue was built, he made another ramp cutting down deeper into the ground. With Night Sight activated he cut out a lower fourth floor and replaced the dirt walls and floors with concrete.

Now that he was over fifty under his store he was worried about structural integrity so he made the fourth-floor walls five-feet-thick using concrete and rebar. There were also 2ft x 2ft concrete and rebar support pillars every fifteen feet to support the upper floors.

Once, Ben, had lights installed he deactivated his Night Sight and placed down his first structure on the new lower fourth floor.

Unlike the other restaurants and inns in the city who only offered a single meal to choose from each day, Ben's Restaurant and Cabaret would have menus to choose from a wide selection of meals.

His waitresses would need to write down the customer's selected meals and drinks and Ben couldn't have them running from table to table with a feather quill and a bottle of ink and a typewriter was out of the question so they would need a modern solution.

This was where the new structure came into play. It was called a [Writing Instrument Manufacturer].

[Writing Instrument Manufacturer]: Produces calligraphy pens, dip pens, fountain pens, ballpoint pens, retractable pens, wood pencils, mechanical pencils, pencil sharpeners, and color markers. [Locked until: built Ink maker] [consumes: ink- graphite- dyes] [requires: stone, wood] [costs: 200g]

Ben had already begun producing ink from the Ink Maker he built on the second floor so this new structure had been unlocked for some time. He never had a real reason to build a Writing Instrument Manufacturer because he figured there wouldn't be much money in selling pens and pencils to the public back then.

Now that his store was growing in popularity and bringing in a good amount of money in sales it wouldn't hurt to add a few modern types of writing instruments to his stock. They might not bring in that much in sales but it would be another draw to bring people into the store and expose them to the other products he sold.

As the Writing Instrument Manufacturer was being constructed Ben placed a Graphite Mine next to it.

[Graphite Mine]: Produces graphite by absorbing earth elemental mana and converting it into chunks of graphite. [requires: stone, wood] [costs: 200g]

The graphite produced by this mine would allow him to make wood pencils and mechanical pencils at the Writing Instrument Manufacturer.

Ben went up to the second floor as the two new structures was being built alongside one another. He opened the Printery Menu and began designing guest check receipt books. These would be used by the waitresses and bartenders to write down the customer's food and drink orders.

The customers would take these guest checks to the cashier at the door and pay for their orders before leaving. It left room for dishonest people to "dine and dash" but this was the same problem modern restaurants had to deal with. Ben would just have to tell his employees to remain vigilant of customers as they left so they did not simply get up and walk out without paying their checks.

Once the two new structures on the lower fourth floor were built Ben began production of color markers, ballpoint pens, calligraphy pens, wood pencils, and mechanical pencils, and pencil sharpeners.

He left the basement and added the new writing instruments to the store Market. This way Cordelia or Baynard would have permission to remove them for restocking.

Ben made a display near the paper and typewriters with the new Writing Instruments they had available and placed prices on them. He would have to stop in when his employees were here later and show them how they work.

Ben used Zoom to teleport to the Small Palace Stables and noticed the sun was beginning to rise. He swallowed a couple Mana Infusion pills to recover the 730mp he had used on casting Zoom twice this morning.

The horses were in their stables and the carriages used to transport the employees were neatly arranged out in the side parking lot. Ben had teleported to the Small Palace Stables because he wanted to buy a couple more spare horses. The Stable's available horses were to be used to pull the carriages and he wanted a few extras to get around the city or for emergencies.

He made a small shed next to the Stables and placed saddles, reins, stirrups, bridles, and extra carriage tack in it. Before he left the shed Ben also placed a few sets of horse armor and horse chainmail off to the side in there.

Out in back of the Stables was a huge area of grass lawns not being used for anything. Ben felt bad these horses were stuck in the stalls so he made a corral on the open lawns behind the Stables.

As he was building the new corral the Stable Master and Stable Hands came out to check on the carriages and horses. Ben told them what he was up to and explained he was going to set a timer on their outer stall doors to allow the horses access to the corral when they were at these stables.

Ben also showed the Stable Master the small woodshed he made and the horse tack inside of it and explained he wanted to keep it in there for when he wanted to use the extra horses he had just bought. As he was showing him the shed he asked him to have the Stable Hands begin hitching the horses to the carriages.

"Have the Stable Hands hitch of the horses to the carriages and have them begin to do this every day at this time. My new business district will be open starting today so your Stable Hands will transport the employees to their jobs in the morning and you can either hang out at the business district Stables until it is time to bring them home or return here to the estate and pick them up when they get off of work. It might be more comfortable to hang out here at the estate for you all but the choice is yours to make. You must also remember the Cabaret is open to later hours into the night so the Stable Hands will need to take turns picking up the Cabaret employees at those later hours."

Ben explained the game plan to the Stable Master and then went into the Small Palace to find Steward Hughes. He asked him where the employees had been eating and found they mainly used the Restaurant. The food in the Restaurant was fast and delicious and it saved the cooks having to bust their butts making over a hundred meals for breakfast, lunch, and Dinner.

The two of them waited in the Stateroom talking about how things were going around the Small Palace as the new employees and the slaves filed in to take a seat.

This was the morning routine that Ben had his Steward perform every day. Everyone who lives in the Small Palace or in the garden community out back had to assemble in the Stateroom to see what they would be assigned to do for the day.

When his new employees had all arrived Ben told them from today on they would begin working at their jobs. They would wake up early eat breakfast if they wanted and load up on the carriages waiting out front to head to their jobs. At the end of the day, the carriages would bring them back to the estate and they were free to do whatever they wanted for the remainder of the night.

Ben began calling out employee names and passing out a few sets of custom tailored uniforms and had them return to their rooms and put them on after he explained how they were to be worn.

He began to regret using neckties for the cashiers because it was a choir to teach them how to tie them and began thinking from now on everyone would get clip-on neckties!

When everyone was ready to go they went off in the carriages and Ben rode a horse alongside the carriage line.

He dropped off the wardrobes from the Warehouse at the Theater and purchased a few cases of hangers and clothes racks for them to hang them backstage. At the restaurant, he gave out pens and receipt books to the waitresses and showed the cooks how to remove items and foods from the Market.

At the Cabaret, he filled the bar with bottles of Liquor and wine and showed the bartenders, waitresses, and short order cooks how to use their Market.

The same was for the maids and laundress at the hotel they were shown how to use the Market located in the laundry room.

By noon he had shown everyone how to perform their jobs and supply themselves with whatever they needed. The Circus was even stocked with lions, tigers, elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, and bears. The best thing about these animals was there was no worry of them attacking anyone. They could perform to appear ferocious when they were doing acts but they were actually very docile animals.

Ben spent some time with each of the animals and even the lions who could tear a man apart acted like purring kittens around him and the trainers. When he went in their cages they would follow him around and rub against leg seeking attention. He felt like he could sleep next to one of them without any worries.

The system was miraculous in how it could create a person or an animal that were all one hundred percent loyal to Ben and got along perfectly with their fellow companions. It seemed to be something that was programmed into their genetics that they did not even realize was there.

The circus also had a recruitment area where Ben purchased trapeze artists, animal trainers, acrobats, clowns, stuntmen, fire eaters, knife throwers, tightrope walkers, stilt walkers, plate spinners, and a couple ringmasters. Thankfully each circus performer had an outfit that matched their profession. They would only need to use the Market to obtain other casual clothing and needed items.

Instead of having the Circus performers live at the now crowded Small Palace Ben gave them rooms on the first floor of the hotel. The circus has a large population of animals and even if the system took care of them he wanted his Circus Employees nearby to keep an eye on them and to make sure people did not try to mess with the animals after closing hours.

The only place that could not be open for business right away was the Auction House. Ben had enough employees for it but he still needed to sit down and go through the System Store to find things he could auction for a profit. The Auction House would take some time before people began to bring their treasured items in to auction them off. This left it up to Ben to provide worthwhile items to draw buyers and sellers to the new Auction House.

With everyone in place and ready for customers Ben walked across the street to the gathered crowd. This newly built area had been drawing crowds since Ben had built it and the people of Goldcrest were curious about the new buildings. Ben went over to the crowd and announced the opening of his new businesses and pointed out what each one offered.

After he spoke with the crowd and answered their questions he went over to the stable to get the horse he rode over here. Ben mounted his horse and rode over to the Messenger Union and paid to use the Crier service.

He had them send out twenty Criers around the city to stand at busy intersections for the next week and announce the opening of his new businesses in the old warehouse district. The fee for the service was pricey but it always pays to advertise. Once people visited his new places he was sure his business district would become one of the hot spots to go to in the city.

He rode his horse to his store and found that even though he wasn't disguised for some reason when he was on the horse people were less prone to try and stop him. Ben drew attention because it was uncommon to see people ride an animal around and the one he rode was much different from the standard Destilar mounts used in this world. Ben could only assume people were so drawn to check out his horse that they never had time to try and stop him to talk.

Back again at the Spirit King store, he sat down with Cordelia and the two other girls who worked in the back department where he had displayed the pens and pencils. He showed them how to use each of new writing instruments and how to load the graphite lead sticks into the mechanical pencils or sharpen a wooden pencil. The girls were quite amazed by the new writing instruments and they loved the colorful markers.

After the store closed he took the daily sales with him and rode his horse back to his estate in the noble district. Ben had been so busy of late he had just noticed the leaves on the trees were already beginning to change on his property.

'It looks like fall has already come to this planet. It won't be long then before the leaves drop and it starts to snow out. I am curious how much snow they get in this part of the planet? It shouldn't be too much because the summer was hot when I first arrived here. It should be fun anyway since I lived in Arizona my whole life and never got to see much snow unless I went up north.'

Ben put the horse in its stall and placed the saddle and the other tack in the shed outside. He set the Stable menus to open the stall doors to allow the horses access to the new corral out behind the Stables.

He had done everything he wanted today in Goldcrest so he used Zoom to return to the Keep and see how Mythia was doing.