Chapter 269

Cain surveys the area to see if there are any other threats and finds the Beastkin locals on their knees and bowing before him. 

“Holy one, forgive us for our rudeness. If we had known the Goddess sent you, we would never have spoken so informally.” One of the farmers begs.

“No need to kneel. Everyone, please stand. I’m not a holy person, it’s just a class skill.” Cain tries to explain while Evangeline tries not to laugh at him. 

“We see the heavenly host, Your Grace. What mere Mortal could call on such a thing? The system holds no power over the Divine Beings.”

Cain shares a confused look with Evangeline who just shrugs. “I’ve never seen a transfer Summon actual Seraphim either, but that’s not saying much.”

“I’ll find a way to explain this properly later. But please believe me, I’m just Duke Cain, the Puppet Master.”

The local farmers share an odd look before standing and bowing to him again. “We understand, your holiness. To the world you are Duke Cain and we shall treat you with all appropriate reverence for your station.”

Cain shakes his head, they clearly don’t understand. Not at all. He had been warned in the past that Beastkin are often superstitious sorts, so it’s likely his own fault for calling so many Seraphim and using Holy Magic when he’s not a Cleric type class. But this is a fixable situation, he’s certain. 

There are a wide variety of farmers here, nearly every able bodied person in the valley showed up with either weapons or supplies of some sort, so Cain gets to recording everyone. Those with a class mostly record as Supporters, though there are a fair number of Greater Golems from the subspecies that don’t get transfers, giving him a wide variety of Second Advancement classes to choose from, even if most have only a few skills from their newest class. 

Those without classes record as Lesser Golems, giving him both more options if he needs them, and a variety of new possible disguises to use. 

The administrator has just joined them, briefcase full of Quest Scrolls in hand. They haven’t turned them in since before the first battle with the Gnolls, and Cain is looking forward to the experience gains. But first, he calls as many Spider Queens as he can into the treeline and orders them to call every Summon possible. 

In total, there are thousands of little spiders in the woods now, and hundreds of very scary ones, but that’s exactly what Cain needs, along with the Seraphim Host, to make full use of the Quest Rewards. They’re high level quests, but they only give so much base experience per completion. 

“I am willing to take that as your guard force assigned to the region, as long as you leave something behind when you go. It’s certainly capable of defending us, even a mighty Gnoll raiding force was eliminated without any loss of life. As such, I will call the Manor Acquisition Quest Complete, as well as the held rewards awaiting you for the Gnolls.”

[Quest Partially Complete]

[Quest Partially Complete]

[Level Up]

[Quest Partially Complete]

[Quest Partially Complete]

[Level Up] 

…

[Quest Complete: Claim Long Fang Valley Territory] 

[Experience Awarded Exceeds Maximum Due to Skill] 

[Multiple Levels Awarded] 

[Advanced Classes Available: Choose Now?]Y/N

There it is, Level 200. The final breakpoint that he was aiming for. But Cain doesn’t intend to choose a new class yet, he still wants both of the final skills from the Puppet Master class.

Fully intelligent puppets will be a huge help in running the Guild Properties, and an extra Commander would be a great assistant. He currently has one available, the clone for Cixelcid, who he appointed, but Cain intends to use that one to guard the Long Fang Valley, as his contract states he must leave a proper guard here. 

Neither of the others seem lost in the system, so either they didn’t make Level 200, or they canceled out the notification to select later.

The unfortunate King James is out cold. Again. But on the bright side, he’s Level 167. The extra bonuses for being so far under Quest Level must have had him hit the experience cap with every partial completion.

“Is your guide alright, sir?” The administrator asks, poking James with his toe.

“Very much so. We’re in a group, so he’s just been overwhelmed with notifications from the rapid level gain. It overwhelms the senses and often knocks low level transfers out for a few minutes. He’ll be overjoyed when he walks up again and sees his level.” Cain assures the man with a smile. 

“But more importantly, I just got the notice of territorial transfer. Would you like to stay on in your role? I need a man who knows the city and knows what he’s doing, both to keep things running smoothly and to implement the changes I have planned.”

The big werewolf gives a happy smile. “I’m at your service My Lord. Just name your desires and I’ll see them done.”

“I’ll start with the little things, so you can inform the villagers right away. Their rent is now equal to the tax charged by the crown, with no extra taxes, and they can keep their children, I won’t be claiming any. If they want to join the Army they can, and I’ll have you arrange it and give the fee paid for recruitment to their families.

That will give me sufficient income from the valley, and we can make a few changes in crops next season to increase revenue. Food sells well, but the valley is fertile and Duke Chen mentioned that he’s still short on Alchemy ingredients to fill orders.”

The farmers eyes light up at that. “You would help us trade with the other Dukes? They usually see each other as competition and try to prevent that.”

“I don’t see it as a problem, more of a business collaboration. I also have a few connections in the Demon Kingdom, who might be interested in items from Skyview. But we can discuss that later. First, I’d like to get a good look at this Manor.”

Cain dismisses all the summons, leaving himself with just the two merged Inquisitors and they begin to make their way through the farms and back to the Manor. 

From the outside it’s impressive, over five acres enclosed in a high stone wall. The ground look a little overgrown, since nobody has trimmed, weeded or mowed anything since the last Duke died, but they’re still in good shape and the fruits are abundant on all the bushes and trees. 

“It was a paranoia of the previous Duke. He feared famine spreading, so he instructed all homes to be self sufficient.” Damien explains. 

“It works out well for us. More food is never a bad thing, and it makes life easier on the working folk.” Cain sees that the Manor grounds hold everything from oranges and blueberries to peanuts, potatoes, tomatoes and even rice growing in the flooded terraces that make up the outer defenses of the compound. 

The thought that went into this is impressive, they’ve covered almost every essential while still making the grounds look like a proper Noble’s gardens. Even the grass of the lawns is mixed with a variety of low growing herbs, such as the chamomile that Misha is picking as they walk by. 

The Manor itself might as well be a castle. Well over two thousand square meters of floor space and four stories tall in the Central pagoda building with large two story tall wings off the sides in an L shape. The Manor has balconies all around, making it not only an incredible home, but a defensible position. 

The walls are white, with gray clay tile roofs, making a striking visual contrast against the trees in the courtyard. In the spring when everything is flowering, Cain suspects it will look magnificent. 

Inside, the floors are all dark stained hardwood with cream colored walls in the common areas. There is a large ballroom plus a dining hall, offices and sorting rooms on the ground level of the East wing, and Damien says there are Guest Bedrooms taking up the second floor, which doesn’t link to the central building, keeping guests from wandering the Manor. 

The central building is all open, each floor is a single room. The previous occupant used them as viewing platforms to look out over the valley, but they were otherwise left empty. 

In the West Wing, the scene turns to pure luxury. Past the front room, a living room which seems intended to catch and deter visitors, is a fully equipped spa. Swimming pool, multiple herbal baths, stations for massages and other spa services fill the opulent area, decorated with huge amounts of gold and marble. It even has a large steam sauna and a collection of changing rooms, should you need to go straight from the spa to a meeting. 

Upstairs are bedrooms, eight in total, each with their own ensuite and separate sitting room to greet visitors or enjoy a meal, should you not feel like going to one of the dining rooms in the East wing. 

“Where are the kitchens?” Misha asks, confused at the layout of this enormous building. 

“All kitchens, storage rooms and servant quarters are in the basement. I’ll show you there next if you care to see it.” Damien explains. 

“We’ve got a number of chefs in the Guild, the kitchens are an important part of every building.” Cain explains, thinking how they’re more often used for making sweets than actual meals.

The kitchen itself takes up the entire basement under the main building, and Cain can see a secondary kitchen under the East wing for catering large parties. That’s perfect, they will have room to cook when they get the entire Guild together for special events. 

The servant quarters are predictably depressing, in Cain’s eyes they’re not much more than prison cells with carpet and a wooden door. But no natural light and stone walls. They’re comfortably cool in this tropical heat, but that’s all they’ve got going for them.

Administrator Damien insists it’s to help night shift sleep, but still these rooms are awful. At most, Cain might assign them to the puppets, who don’t actually need to sleep. They can use them for storing their changes of outfits and personal effects if they collect any. 

The laundry is at the far end of the East wing, and Cain wonders briefly about the size difference between East and West before realizing that it’s just because of the pool and baths set into the floor above them, as well as the furnaces that heat them. Every bit of space in the underground level is fully utilized. 

“I think we’ve seen everything there is to see. Now, I should drop Gerald here back in the Capital and check on the crew of our ship that’s at the port. But first, I’m going to Summon a full time Commander to work with you and protect the valley.”