Homesteading XII

"Fluffy… She missed you last night." M'rissi pouts slightly as she gives me a sleepy glare.

"Sorry, I kept you waiting so long kitten. I had some business to take care of and it ended up taking longer than I thought. But you'll have me here for the next two days at least." I say before kissing her lips making her scowl disappear as I feel her begin to pur once more.

"That sounds purr~fect to her." M'rissi preens as our lips part and I feel her start to breathe heavier as she begins to grind her backside into my groin.

Making my lower half stir as my hands rise up from her waist, slowly trailing upwards.

"Fluffy, she-" M'rissi starts to say before a terror unlike any other cuts her off.

"Papa! Papa! Wake up!" Lucia shouts just outside the tent causing me to panic and throw a blanket over me and M'rissi right before she can burst in and leaps on top of the both of us, completely killing the mood.

"Lucia! What did I say about letting Papa sleep?" Aventus says following in quickly behind her, with Sofie quietly following behind him.

"But he was sleeping so long!" Lucia whines.

"Uh oh… My little brunsumzs…" I say giving them a dire look.

"What is it, Papa?" Lucia asks with wide eyes.

"It seems… You've awoken the… TICKLE MONSTER!" I shout to their terror, trapping Lucia in a bear hug before ruthlessly tickling her sides making her tear up through her laughter.

"NO! STOP!" Lucia shouts in protest between fits of laughter causing M'rissi to try and suppress her own chuckle at the unexpected situation.

"Quick, Sofie! We must slay this tickle monster to save Lucia!" Aventus shouts before prompting an assault on my sides by both him and Sofie.

Causing me to let Lucia go, allowing Aventus to grab both her and Sofie's hands and rush out of the tent, screaming their heads off.

"Run! There's a tickle monster on the loose!" Aventus shouts as he runs through camp gathering everyone's attention, making both me and M'rissi chuckle.

"Well, is the ferocious Tickle Monster going let his prey escape so easily?" M'rissi asks with a devious smile before giving me a kiss on the cheek and heading to breakfast as I stand up and start chasing all the children around the camp for a little while before I get winded and need to stop to eat and drink.

The kids are tired too, sprawled out on the ground panting before gaining a second wind to join breakfast.

I notice M'rissi seeming unwell at the smell of the roasted goat, instead opting to eat some jerkied salmon dipped in honey and piled up with all kinds of berries, foraged from the nearby woods.

I decide not to judge her taste in food as I see Kasia serving the kids food, I call out to her.

"Kasia!" I shout getting her attention and causing her to come over to me after finishing with the kids.

"Yes, Silvantus, there something you need?" Kasia asks with a bright smile.

"Yeah, I'd like you to pen and send out a few letters. One to Gerdur, in Riverwood, asking her to come to the camp for a meeting with some new clients. Another letter can be sent to Constance at the orphanage, telling her the children can come to the camp now. Send Vladimar, Rayya, and Benor to escort them here. And lastly, send for rolls of paper, ink, and quills, I'd like to start working on recruitment pamphlets for the company." I explain to her the messages I need to be delivered.

"Of course, I'll get on it right away. Anything else you need?" Kasia asks after writing everything down in a notebook.

"No, I think that's it. I'll be working on some furniture for the main house all of today if you get any updates I need to know about." I tell her.

"Alright, have fun!" Kasia says, nodding in affirmation before going off to take care of her assignment.

And with that, I head to the workbench and schematic table, it takes about an hour to succeed in making a few modified blueprints, a set of bunk beds, vertical storage chests with drawers, training dummies, sliding doors, and a few other miscellaneous things.

Once the plans are laid out I take some wood, nails, hinges, locks, straw, cloth, and various other fittings, as well as some woodworking tools, and get to work.

It's similar to how crafting a new weapon or piece of armor goes. My body seems to know what to do before I even have to think about it, I spend the next few hours working on tables, chairs, beds, mattresses, and chests.

Occasionally, one of the company may stop by to check in on me, bringing me food or a drink but everyone is pretty set on what they need to do and how to get it done.

It's about evening when I finish getting the bare-bones furniture for the main house done and it's then I see Gerdur riding into town on a young and energetic horse. She also seems to have traded in her common clothes for some fine merchants' clothes.

Riding on the back of the horse is her son Frodnar, staring at everything around him in awe at the novelty of the camp and the massive house that is bigger than the bunkhouse he has been seeing the construction of back home.

"Gerdur! You're here early. I didn't expect you to get here until tomorrow morning." I call out to her upon her arrival.

"I decided to come as soon as I read your message, I'm always eager for new business partners. But your message didn't go into too much detail about who it'd be with?" Gerdur says, skillfully dismounting her horse before helping her son down and letting him run off to play with the rest of the children.

"We can talk business in the morning, why don't you join us for camp dinner first?" I offer her.