Reincarnation Of Audemars - Chapter 109

It was lunchtime when the children had returned from their task… I mean their quest and produced me the little pocketbook that they had gotten a bookstore to design for them.

When they heard it is from the House of Keating, the proprietor decided to produce the small pocketbook for free since House of Keating had been supporting the bookstore in general supplies for the children from Keating’s Day Care Centre.

One thing for sure, we had received quite a reputation for being a tradesman as well as a guild master, some would call. Even though we were waiting for the castle to be ready, it would still be zero memberships as I would wish the lieutenants or the mentors to master all the training grounds first.

During our lunch of steamed rice, some vegetables and braised pork in salted beans, the arrival of the castle was announced and it was brought in by a few low bed trailers where the workers who had early lunch began to commence their work.

A few hundred men were deployed and they set up the towers first before they lay the ground for the obstacle course around it, along with the courtyard that could assemble 200 over people. Within a span of a few hours and before dinner time the whole setup was done and a hundred workers and the flatbed trailers moved off to where they had come from.

The children went to see the development of the building and were amazed on how fast they could set up all the partitions and boarding to make it look like a castle, complete with its Formica masonry stone walls and all the fittings. Before long, it finally took shape like a three-storey castle complete with its 4 training grounds on the lower floors as the castle was situated in an elevated platform.

“Daddy, Mummy… The 3 storey castle has finally been completed. It is H-U-G-E…with a perimeter of at least 400 meters around it. Can we all move right in after this?” Ingles was excited to see the development and she reported back to me and I just smiled at her and the rest of the children.

“There’s no furnishings up in the rooms yet, no bed, bedding, pillows, armoire, full-length windows and there’s no cooks and housekeeper engaged yet. Trish, is there such an agency here where we can hire cooks unlike the ones in the cookhouse but mainly for domestic purposes and a housekeeper as well? ”

I asked and the reply I got was rather disappointing because we do not wish to hire general cooks but at least one that could produce snacks, pastries, cakes and puddings rather than steamed corn, yam, roasted sweet potatoes and such.

“Ah well… We can get a general cook to handle our main meals first and a general housekeeper. Come on, let’s see our new home.” I picked myself from the bench I was sitting in the cookhouse and went ahead with the rest of them towards the grounds of the castle.

It was what we had ordered for the main doors, the courtyard, the drink and food stands and the tables and chairs at the sides of it. Around the courtyard’s perimeter, I could see all the obstacles lined up just as I had requested which consist of the SOC and AOC combined together.

(SOC is the standard obstacle course and AOC is the advanced obstacle course meant for cadet and ranger officers during their training stint)

Right through the courtyard, the 4 training grounds for 4 classes were ready and a practical and duelling ground is in the centre with interchangeable and programmable courses. Just like in a practical shooting course.

Wooden one-handed and two-handed swords, poles, spears, bucklers are arranged nicely in the weapons rack. There’s also wooden blank arrow shafts and bolts complete with wooden throwing knives, darts and stars.

8 wingchun statues were also there and with a press of a remote button, the wingchun statues could be raised and hidden into the grounds to make space.

8 archery lanes of about 35 meters were there equipped with stationery and pop up targets. These too could be raised and hidden under the surface at a clock of a remote button.

The best part that I loved the most is the practical and reflexes training area. There are about 12 designs that we could choose from and it would be beasts, hoodlums and innocent bystanders pop up targets inside them.

These 12 designs make up a maze where pop up targets would emerge from the corners, from the ground or from above. A scoreboard and a timer were present so everyone could have a go with it except for the Wizards.

As for the wizards, there was a special arena for them to home their skills and this would be enclosed and away from prying eyes and innocent bystanders. They could freely unleash their fire, frost or lightning magic as and when they like but within the protected area. This is well… You should know that the kind of damage they would deal each time they deploy their magic.

The sliding door for the two majestic wooden doors slid with ease and what we saw was astounding. A great seating area welcomes us at the end of a short hallway and the Keating coat of arms were displayed on the left side of the passageway. “Dear, you could have someone design the Macleod’s coat of arms here on the right,” suggested Patricia as she saw an empty wall across Keating’s coat of arms.

“Yes, that would be a great idea.” I simply replied as I scanned the interior and find it quite to my liking. The left-hand side of the living space had a grand oval-shaped table that’s meant for 10 pax. The right-hand side had another seating area next to a fireplace and a mantlepiece. There, stood 4 huge empty mahogany bookcases that I intend to fill it with chants, spells, hexes and shouts spellbooks.

An entrance on each end leads to the kitchen while an extra door leads to my small study where I could sit there and relax with a bag of chips and a can of soda if I’m bored and wanted to be secluded for a while, especially if I wanted to enter the Realm of Mind.

We all went to the kitchen and saw the setup was of contemporary design. It had a big earthen oven, fired using firewood and charcoal and its great to make pizzas. Then they had 3 XL sized rocket stoves where the cooks would be happy to whip up large breakfast, lunch and dinner. Next to the earthen oven, a large 6 tiered basket steamer was there to make steamed dumplings…!!! It is been some time since we had made such dumplings.

A large food cabinet was meant to store dry ingredients and also cooked food with a green mesh wire in front. Nice… At least it would keep those nasty cockroaches away for good. There was an island in the middle complete with drawers and cabinets to store the large pots and pans, skillets and all those party knives and forks et cetera.

A wire hanger was installed on top of the island and there were all the everyday use pots and pans as well as ladles. And on the other side, there were porcelain plates bowls as well as drinking mugs.

The island was equipped with a sink in the centre plus the 2 sinks in the centre of the countertop at the washing area. There was a row of windows at the back of the kitchen that would let in as much sunlight during the day, making the kitchen livelier.

Next, we went upstairs that had two staircases leading to it from the centre of the living space. There are 10 equally sized rooms and inside the rooms, the basic amenities were installed as planned. Hanging on the doorknobs of every door was a proximity card that accesses to the third open space where the swimming pool, water slides and jacuzzi was and the children were the first to raced upstairs.

“WOW… a figure 8 swimming pool… And it’s 1.8 meters deep and shallowest is 1.2 at the sides. WOW… Look at that waterside… It is not only high, but it circles the whole place before letting a slider comes out from the end and plops right in the centre here… Hehehehe… I would love to swim in that during the hot summer.” Ingles and the two girls were excited while Adam looked gloomily.

“Hey, buddy… What’s the matter… You don’t like the swimming pool?” I asked and the answer I got from him was surprising indeed coming from a 12-year-old… “I’m afraid of heights and I don’t know how to swim…”

Kayla looked at him and brought a bright yellow rubber ducky float ring and handed it to Adam. “Here… You can use this floatation device. Hahahaha…” and she ran around the place and climbed the top to inspect the trapdoor release on the verticle water slide.

All the adults can’t help but laugh at the kids’ antics and there was a sign that says no swimming during rainy or stormy weather.

“Well, the whole place looks smashing and neat. All we need to do is to employ a lifeguard here on the rooftop, snacks and drinks server, 2 cooks to run the show in the kitchen and 2 housekeepers.”

“They won’t be living in with us so basically they would work a 12-hour shift per day.” I finally concluded and they asked me where could they find a lifeguard and the cooks that I have in mind and well, that brings me to have a sudden spark of an idea.

As we walked out to head to David’s Decor in the Northern Business District, Prius came to me and said that there are 2 things that are missing, “Brother in law… We should name this Castle of Keating-Macleod and it should bear both of our family colours on the left and right side of the entrance here. Our family colours and yours.”

“That would be swell, I love the idea, brother in law… Hehehe. Keating-Macleod… I like that name… I guess in terms of structure management, we sure come up tops right now.” I smiled again and tapped his shoulder as we walked on.

Passersby were complimenting the magnificence of the castle and its layout as we opened up the door to let the public view the interior of the courtyard as well as the obstacle course around it and the training areas too.

“I would like my children to come here and train and be under Keating’s. This structure is well built and it spells how established and well reputation these people are…” said a man about the age of middle 30s was heard commenting to the group of people around.

“Yes… Yes… I overhead that it is now called Castle of Keating-Macleod… What great family names… I heard the Macleod guy is a very low profile person, almost like a commoner, unlike the other Houses.” said a lady who was admiring the surroundings.

“Uh-huh… He is the founder of Beauty World. Imagine that… A man whose interest is into beauty products for women. He’s a low profile guy, and I heard he bought over the orphanage and turned it into a free Day Care Centre for his 200+ employees.”

“He also got the Atelier, Blacksmith, Bowsmith and the Tavern into the business circle under the name of House of Keating and saved their businesses. He is a great man I tell you, a low profile, humble and respectable person as well.” added a lady and everyone agreed on what she had said about the stature of the man named Audemars Macleod.