Chapter 116: Bedtime for Bonzo
Billy climbed down from the statue and waved the workers over to the building. There was a half flight of wide stairs up to a landing before immense double doors made of huge slabs of oak, bound in iron. Billy stomped his foot twice. The doors opened slowly. Each was ten feet tall and five feet wide. They entire first story was one large room with wide curving stairs heading up to the second floor. Crystal lights hung from long chains, producing a soft glow.
"Here it is! ACME headquarters. Have to get it fixed up a bit. Furniture, a wine bar, maybe some artwork."
Rolly and Ben were helpful as usual. "A stuffed moose would look good."
"And some statues of wood nymphs."
Billy considered. "No, good ideas, but this is ACME, we have to be tasteful and make a statement that sums up our corporate ideals.
Ben and Rolly looked at each other before Rolly shouted out their next idea. "So maybe something like a god of war standing on top of a pile of skulls with upraised sword?" Ben had pulled a notebook from somewhere and quickly sketched something out. "How about this?"
Billy grabbed the drawing, noting that somehow Ben had gotten ahold of real paper, not parchment. He lost the thought when he saw the drawing. "Exactly! This is perfect. It's subtle but gets the point across. I'll have to make sure to assign one of the new workers to be a sculptor."
Suzette knew who was going to have to feed new workers, she wanted details. "Can you tell me when they are getting here Baron Billy? I want to make sure I can feed them all somehow? "
Layla smiled at Suzette. "Oh, don't worry dear, you have plenty of time. The next hundred people don't show up until tomorrow morning. I'm sure you can handle the details. Remember your deal to keep that little tavern of yours. Or would it be easier to just give your half of the rubble back to ACME and not have to worry about it? We can be flexible."
Suzettes’ eyes got big. "Oh, but how could I be The Lonely Barmaid without a bar?
Suzette turned to Layla with a somewhat vacant smile. "Oh no, Baroness, I couldn't let you down that way. I'll get right to work on things. Why, you're going to be so surprised by how much I can do in a day. I bet I can get that pile of rubble looking much better." She nodded her head and turned to the other workers. Come on guys, we've got a lot to do!"
Billy grabbed Layla by the arm, "Come on! Time to look at the top floors. Ben! I need you! You can sketch out all my ideas and we'll get things started." Billy had a strange excitement about him that was worrying Layla as she hurried to catch up with him. "We'll want banks on each corner of the main square and we need to leave room for a stock exchange, a couple of hotels, and one of those 'we used to control the internet before it burned companies'. I want the first ring to be top notch businesses. They can pay the most."
"Sound good Layla?"
"Let's say I have some doubts." Staring down at the ruins she tried to get Billy to pay attention. "I see a lot of rubble. Hard sell until those are buildings and you have people."
Billy waved her off. "How about you Ben, what do you think?"
"Honestly?" Ben knew employers rarely took honest criticism well. Billy kept nodding at him. Ben just shrugged his shoulders and started reading off a list he had been making. "I think it sounds great...if we were at that point of the story. We aren't. Might be lack of sleep, or dealing with ancient...well, whatever this place is. But you're not your usual self."
Billy sighed theatrically. "No one is seeing what I'm trying to say."
Ben walked up, stooped a bit to look Billy directly in the eyes and said, "You sound like Vern. You can't beat Vern at his own game. You beat him at your game."
Billy took a step back and his eyes narrowed. "Oh, so what are your ideas, Mr. 'oh so knowledgeable' contract worker?"
Ben looked at his list. "Secure housing for 200 contract workers. If you have 100 coming in tomorrow, I expect you'll want even more after that. We start on a series of simple housing. Nothing elaborate like the barracks."
"Food is next. We need to bring in additional food stuffs until we get more fields planted. Every bushel of corn you buy from merchants is money you don't have for this place."
"Assigning roles. You need more builders for Jorges crew, and hopefully there are some with engineering or architecture backgrounds. I'm also going to go through the people we already have. Ozzy had a hand in picking them, and he knew their strengths. You need at least two furniture makers, a seamstress or costume maker, a fine metal smith, more carpenters, more stonemasons, a LOT more farmers. And a team of spelunkers."
Layla was nodding as he talked, Billy was just rolling his eyes. "Spelunkers?"
Ben waved at the city, "You have no idea how riddled with caverns, sewers, and tunnels this area is. Or how far down they go. You don't want a building sinking into the ground. And you don't want to sell a dungeon to someone cheap because you rented the land above it."
Billy's eyes glazed over. "Most of that is Sedgewick stuff. This is Gadobhra. Fine, you go handle all that shit. Back to important stuff."
Ben pointed off towards the castle. "And you'll want to refurbish that old opera house ASAP." Billy jerked at the mention of an opera house. As he turned, Ben reached out and grab his shoulder. Billy collapsed instantly." Layla caught him as he fell.
"Thanks, I couldn't listen to him for another minute. I was about to push him over the edge. How the hell did you do that?"
Ben looked slightly embarrassed. "I had to learn it for 'Space trek: the musical. I played an Andorian/Vulcan crew member and the director wanted it to look real. We had to close the show when the lead actor fell and broke his nose."
Layla let out a little girl scream of joy. "OMYGOD! You were Blue Vulcan! That's hysterical. I'm not sure if I should ask you for your autograph or toss you over the edge along with Billy."
That was pretty much the typical reaction Ben got. "Yeah, not one of my proudest roles. How about we compromise with me packing his Lordship back to Sedgewick and putting him to bed. He's showing classic signs of exhaustion. Then I'll get to work on this list."
Layla grabbed Billy and effortlessly tossed him to her shoulders. "I'll get him. I've hauled him further during corporate bar-hopping events."
Ben didn't argue. She obviously outclassed him in STR. The trip back to Sedgewick took 20 minutes. Billy snored all the way back.
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freew𝒆(b)novel.c(o)m Only