“Cal, it’s time for a real discussion on something that we’ve mostly been winging up til now, but with all of your people back and my firm commitment to your cause, we can’t put it off anymore,” Harold said. Harold had asked Cal, Andrew, Stan, and Glenn to join them for a discussion on the void house and its future as soon as everyone was ready. It had taken two days, but they were here now. Initially, Cal had hoped at least Andy and Ethel might be up to joining them, but despite Ethel’s claims she’d be ready to go in a wheelchair by now, her recovery was still underway.
“I assume this is about logistics,” Cal said. He knew space had gotten incredibly tight. Most people were just sleeping in tents in Ethel’s realm, which people had recently taken to called the Gardens, which was an apt description. Though Cal shuddered slightly at the thought of how Ethel would react when she heard the news.
“Yes, and I know we had started the conversation already but I want to reiterate where things are. We still haven’t fully processed all of the people Bug brought in, we’ve barely interrogated the Gryalth, and we haven’t even gotten to the capture ogres yet. The furthest along in any of the groups are the kids, and that’s because of the plan for future loops. But with everyone back, this place is packed near to breaking. So, I’m restructuring my immediate plans. For now, against my better judgment we are going to see if any of the non-combatant guests have any construction, cooking, or anything related to building and running a place like this type of skills,” Harold said.
“Fulginanis, what do our space constraints look like? Can we just build out into the void as we need?” I asked, summoning one of my mana spirits with my question.
“Yes, we are nearing a point where Grannus can join into our harmonized form, which will fully integrate the rock realm as an aspect below the void house. I believe that will be the better solution for some of the planned add-ons especially if we can further link some of the chambers to the Gardens. I believe humans like a sense of outdoors for their living chambers,” the mana spirit said. They were right. Humans very much did. Cal liked that idea and was sure the animals would as well.
“Good, then we need to start work on rooms for everyone. I want each of those kids to feel like this is their home and that they belong. It’s important we never treat them anything like the Agency did,” Cal said, frowning slightly as he pictured what some of them may have gone through. Emily flashed in his brain, causing the frown to turn into a deep anger.
“Absolutely agreed. I’ve already talked to the capybaras. They are being pulled off any supplemental build projects for now. I just want them getting everyone fed as best they can. The size of people we have should better lend to large-scale construction. I’m also working on getting some heavy machinery in here. Though that is harder to move through my channels without being noticed, but I will get some,” Harold said.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yeah, we’re going to need that when it comes to the rock realm. No real way around that unless Cal wants to spend all his time carefully crafting rooms,” Stan said, laughing slightly at his own suggestion.
“Yeah, not going to have a ton of time for that I don’t think. Somehow, we accidentally founded a magical school, and I imagine figuring that all out is going to take more than one loop in and of itself,” Cal said. This was something that helped with the anger. Sure what had happened to the kids was terrible, but the idea of them all learning how magic together, more people to train with, and a real magical school, now that was just amazing. Something he would be proud of.
“Do you remember how many arguments we used to have over the concept and even existence of magic?” Andrew asked, shaking his head slightly.
“Yep, we’ve come an insanely long way through this. Hell, I think you might even like people now,” Cal said, trying to contain his laughter.
“Perhaps, well, at least the animals. I like many of them,” Andrew replied, a small smile escaping his usual stoic appearance.
“Speaking of the animals, as I understand it, they all generally attend Ethel’s school as well. Will Sarah be able to work with that?” Harold asked, looking at Glenn.
“Yes, she already adores several of the other denizens of this place. Bug had been helping her with many of the kids from the moment they met. If we are talking about expanding this place and the idea of a magic school, though, I think we are going to need to draw up real blueprints for things we’d want in one. There are a lot of experiments I can think of for different magic uses that we’d need controlled rooms to properly test. Not to mention, the kids would almost certainly feel better in dorm-style rooms closer to each other,” Glenn answered before giving his own thoughts on a magical school.
“I agree, we need to fill in for their missing families, and with the bonds they’ve already formed, I think keeping them close together will help them in the long run,” Stan concurred.
“Alright, so school, high priority on the building. We need to start transforming this place for the future war we have to fight as well. I know Cal has several ideas, and we’ve discussed many of them before. Recruiting the popstar is one of the better ones, the more I’ve thought about it. Let’s toss that into future loop goals, and keep the school firmly in the goals of this one. What else do we need to accomplish building during this loop?” Harold asked.
“As much as I dislike the idea, we need proper holding cells,” Cal said. He hated the idea of keeping prisoners, but with the plans for Clarke and Brice, they were needed, especially if ogre deprogramming became a standard loop start.