My 100th Rebirth a day before the Apocalypse

Chapter 1001: Chapter 999 A Part Of The Family

Immediately, she checked the system. Just like with the crops, a prompt appeared allowing her to set up automatic fish harvesting and fry-raising across all water sources. She quickly customized and isolated portions of each area, like the rivers, ponds, marshes, lakes, and seas, assigning half to isolation so they would produce normal aquatic animals.

After finishing with the fishery, she did the same for the animal farm. Once complete, she sent Mike and Gant a message, granting them access to the same settings as Marcus; the only difference is that it was linked to their respective areas.

This would help streamline their work, though they would still need additional hands to care for the aquatic animals and farm animals, especially those requiring manual attention, like the sheep during shearing.

So, Kisha decided to leave the hiring process to Marcus, reminding him to include the fisheries and animal farm when recruiting additional help. While they were discussing this, Mike passed by with Gant, and Kisha called them over since they had already received her message.

She explained the settings to them, as the automatic functions for the fisheries and animal farm were slightly different from those of the farmland. If they didn’t understand something and went to Marcus for clarification, he might not be able to explain it properly, so Kisha took the opportunity to go over everything herself.

Although they were still teenagers, Mike and Gant had been acting responsibly and maturely with such a big task, so Kisha didn’t hold back and even mentioned the upcoming recruitment to them.

"So, what do you think about bringing in more people to help manage your side of the farm?" Kisha asked, glancing at the twins.

"Young Madam, I’ll follow whatever decision you make. But honestly, it makes perfect sense to hire more people. It would allow us to focus more on caring for the animals, especially since some are already producing spiritual products, like for example the cow’s milk infused with spiritual energy. I’ve already stored some of that in the warehouse, along with the slaughtered farm animals infused with spiritual energy."

"Having more hands would really help, particularly in tasks like separating chicks after they hatch. Males need to be raised separately from females to prevent them from harassing the laying hens. If we don’t, the hens can get stressed to the point that their eggs get stuck during laying, which can be fatal. At the same time, we also need to castrate young male pigs early so their testosterone level is managed; otherwise, the meat develops an unpleasant taste or smell when slaughtered."

"And with the territory expanding, the animal farm will grow too. I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle everything myself, even with some tasks on automatic settings, like egg collection or slaughtering mature animals." Mike spoke openly, encouraged by Kisha’s invitation to share his thoughts.

"Um, I thought so too. Since you’re going to be hiring people to work with you, why don’t you come with your grandfather and choose your own team? If you’re unsure about any of your choices, you can always ask your grandfather for advice."

"But picking your own personnel will give you a better sense of who you’ll be working with in the future. If someone doesn’t feel right for the job, don’t force it, just follow your judgment."

Kisha nodded as she spoke, knowing that this approach would also give Gant and Mike time to train their awakened abilities once they had more help on their respective sides of the territory.

"Thank you, Young Madam! We’ll do that then." Gant smiled cheerfully and nodded. Handling the fisheries was already a huge task, fishes in all the water sources in the territory were growing rapidly.

Even with the Winters helping him occasionally to net the fish, it still wasn’t enough, since the fish reproduced almost as fast as the crops grew in the farmland. He even had to repair the nets he made to separate mature fish from the fry, ensuring the small fish weren’t accidentally caught during harvest.

With more people helping, though, he could manage better. Even if half of the water sources were set to automatic harvesting and raising, he would still need to personally oversee the other half, the most important part, because he was raising spiritual fish that could become rare ingredients for special items. That meant he had to be careful, not just with the fish, but also with how he raised them as it would affect the aquatic animals’ grades too.

"Oh right, Gant, Mike, before I forget, this is Edison. He’ll be around the territory most of the time with Daisy, so if you see him and he wants to follow you, please take care of him. He’s socially anxious and not very good with communication, so he might need a little extra guidance sometimes."

Kisha gently pulled Edison out from behind her. The moment Gant and Mike arrived, he had stopped helping cut the Napa cabbage and was now hiding behind her, as if worried they might notice him.

"Oh?! A new kid?" Mike said, leaning down with a big grin, clearly amused.

But seeing him act like a hooligan and risk scaring Edison, Marcus smacked him on the back of the head, silently telling him to behave like a responsible older brother and guide the young boy.

Mike immediately pouted, pretending to cry. "Grandpa... you don’t love me anymore? Or are you just trying to make me stupid by hitting my head?" he whimpered, his pitiful act exaggerated, but, of course, no real tears came.

"Tse! You’re not even that smart..." Marcus teased, crossing his arms, but he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips when he saw Mike on the verge of actually crying. After all, he knew this kid was genuinely clever; otherwise, how could he, at such a young age, manage the animals and even come up with ways to make the farm nearly self-sufficient?

"Alright, alright, I’m just kidding. Just... help take care of Edison from time to time. This kid’s had it hard, too," Marcus added, patting the heads of both his grandsons, Mike and Gant.

Mike and Gant nodded, their smiles softening into something more genuine toward Edison. Edison peeked up at them, his lips pursed, but he managed a small nod, a promising sign that he wasn’t as averse to Mike and Gant as he had first seemed.

"By the way, Young Madam, I saw Master and some of his bodyguards surveying the territory and taking measurements," Mike said, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "The last time I saw something like this was when my father and mother were talking about building a house. Are we... building a new house inside the territory? But we already have the cabin for you, right? And we don’t need a new warehouse either, since we already have the territory’s warehouse..."

He paused, frowning slightly, clearly too curious to let it go.

"Oh, that? We’re building an employee dormitory," Kisha explained. "This way, people working in my territory, like you guys and Hugo’s team, won’t have to scramble to find some random spot to hang a hammock just to catch a nap. With a proper dormitory, you’ll be able to rest comfortably, with blackout curtains to ensure your sleep isn’t disturbed and your body clock stays on track."

She continued, her tone serious. "No matter how much you try to sleep in a hammock, the sunlight here is always up in the sky, so your body can’t properly secrete melatonin. Over time, that could leave you constantly tired, disrupt your body clock, and, especially for those who haven’t awakened their abilities, it could even weaken your immune system."

"So, having proper sleep is essential, and the dormitory will also give everyone privacy, a place where the employees can even cook if they want. It’ll help them feel like they’re living a normal life inside the territory," Kisha explained.

"Ah?! Does that mean we’ll each get our own room?" Gant blurted out, his eyes widening as he suddenly grasped the significance of what she was saying.

"Of course you do. It’s not convenient to keep taking naps around the territory just to catch up on sleep, finishing your tasks, and then always returning to the villa to rest. With your own room here, everyone can rest whenever needed, take afternoon naps, and when your tasks are done, you can go out to the base or visit the villa at your own pace," Kisha explained.

She already understood their circumstances and felt a pang of sympathy for Marcus’s family. They were doing so much to support the territory, and while Marcus was trying to repay her for taking them in, she knew they were overextending themselves. Giving them proper rest and more freedom to manage their own time was the right thing to do.

Marcus also realized that Kisha and Duke had noticed their hard work; he felt touched, and a warm feeling spread through his chest. It felt like they were treating him and his family as part of their own, even caring about such small details.