Ch 30: A mini business setback.

I woke up after having the dream of having clothes to sell and a inn at my name.

'I just got a crazy idea.' I said out loud as I sat on my bed.

'What's it about?' Marcus asked as he made little jumps on the crib.

Baby girl started to cry out of annoyance.

'Don't do that while she is in the crib, Marcus.' I stopped him by taking him up and put him on the floor. 'She's very delicate.' I told him as I took baby girl in my arms and rockabyed her. 'Let's go for breakfast, shall we?' I suggested.

'Yes!' Marcus nodded excited.

We went to the second floor where I used the kitchen and made scrambled eggs with sausage and bread for breakfast. Plus goat milk and berry compota on the side.

Baby girl received cow milk and I gave her for the first time ever, apple puree. Her eyes went wild as she first tried the apple puree and immediately tried to use her hands to grab the puree and eat it on her own.

Marcus and I laughed.

'By the way, em, Miss Baker?' Marcus called for me.

'Yes?' I sat down with my own boiled eggs, bacon and bread with a black tea.

'Can you, change my name?' He asked.

I stopped mid-bite. 'Em. . . I mean, I can. . . But remember that you real name, the elf name, is something only you or you mom can do.' I told him. 'But if you want, we can change the human name is that helps.' I offered.

Marcus nodded. 'Marcus was the name of my father. But, since my neither my mom nor my dad are here now, I want to change both names.' He declared.

For being a two year old, he is quite aware of the world around him. I noticed but I smiled. 'In that case, how about we wait for a few more years? You are still young, so it might be better to take some time while before we make new papers for you.' I told him.

Marcus nodded. 'But, can you call me something else now?' He asked. 'To get used to the idea.' He explained.

I nodded and thought about it for a bit. 'Is there, any way you see yourself? Like a warrior, or pacifist? Anything like that?' I inquired him about that.

'I, see myself as a survivor.' Marcus said looking down at his eggs.

I thought about it for a second as I kept eating. A survivor name, huh? My name raced with the millions of names I knew. 'Li. . . Liam?' I suggested.

Marcus blinked at me. 'What does that name mean? It sounds fancy.' He asked.

I almost cackled but kept my composure. 'Well, em. . .' I quickly remembered the meaning of names. 'Well, I'm not sure where it comes from. . . But I do know it means, "Strong-willed warrior" and "protector." I think it suits you, but if you don't like it just let me know.' I went back to eating.

Marcus thought about it and shook his head. 'No, it's fine. My name is Liam now.' He declared.

I smiled to Mar—Ehem! Liam. 'That's great. Welcome to your new home, Liam.' I went back to eat.

Suddenly, the atmosphere was now more warm and homelike, with the light shining through the windows and lighting the place like it was today the day that one could change everything.

. . .

Few days later. . .

'Paychecks, everybody!!' I called out. As soon as we finished picking up.

Everyone lined up with Minerva the Minnie nanny being the first one to be in front of me. 'Here you go, Minerva.' I gave her her envelop. She took it and waved at everybody goodbye as she ran home. 'Sipfra, good job.' Sipfra took her envelop and nodded and she waved at us waved and left too. 'Ginevra, thanks for the help.' Ginevra took her envelop and left slowly through the main door. 'Agnes, thanks too.' Agnes took the envelop and kissed it as she left equally or even slower than Ginevra. 'Clementine, someone gave you a very specific tip on your name, good job.' Clementine took the letter and blushed as she heard and disappeared quickly. 'Don't tell the girls, but you Nathan, you are getting so good with being a bartender than both men and woman are giving twice the tips.' I whispered to him by giving him his envelop.

'Sweet smell of money.' Nathan sniffed the envelop and kissed it while being a little groggy and yawned. 'Say, Miss Baker.' I turned to see him. 'Do you see yourself taking more people soon?' He asked.

'Yes and no.' I answered. 'I believe I will need more people, but not any time soon. Why do you have anyone on mind?' I asked him.

Nathan blushed and looked away.

I sighed as I smiled to him. 'Is it a pretty lady? A family member? A friend?' I asked.

'Em, family member.' Nathan responded blushing embarrassed. 'You see, my cousin, Emilio is taking gastronomy courses in a college inside the city and he sent me a letter that to be able to graduate, he needed to have an internship for a year. He just started his second to last year, so he went to scavenging for jobs early, but he hasn't been able to get a job.' He explained with a bit of pain in his voice.

I thought about it for a second. 'Has, you cousin even bothered a woman?' I asked him.

Nathan looked at me weird. 'No, no as far as I know. Why?' He asked.

'Because I know a good amount of men who would want a job full of women to molest them and even try to grope them. Not in that order.' I responded. 'I speak from personal experience, and although I do trust you. . . I also had betrayals inside my family, so I want to make sure that your cousin will not try to get advantage of the women in my care or be against them.'

Nathan nodded both surprised and shocked about it. 'Well, I don't believe he's against women that way, but I will try to get through him and see if he makes any type of move.' He promised.

'Good, and if he's clean from any barbaric thoughts and desires, I'll be willing to at least give him an interview.' I offered.

'Really? Thank you!' Nathan bowed to me. 'I'll make sure to let you know the details!' He ran off back home.

I sighed heavily.

'Miss Baker!' Liam called out to me. 'Baby girl needs new diaper!' He exclaimed with disgust in his tone.

I laughed. 'I'm coming! I'm coming!'

After the diaper change, I put the baby to sleep and Liam went to play with crayons and pain. He really loves art.

As for myself, I went through my notes about getting or installing and inn and also making sure I have a newspaper with building sells on it.

'It can be either an inn or maybe a rented space for monthly payments.' I told myself. 'A rented apartment or a mini neighborhood.' I smiled to myself.

Twenty minutes became two hours, and by then I had marked with a pen all the buildings in the area I could look for.

I stood up and went to check on Liam. Liam had fell asleep with blue paint on his face. I took him up and started to clean him and changed him. Then, I put him on the baby's crib and went to prepare dinner.

. . .

After dinner. . .

Liam was still sleepy, so as soon as he finished his meal, he put his arms up as if to say, "hey, carry me." Baby girl was not so different.

I sighed and carried both of them to bed.

I myself, ended up fainting on my bed as soon as my face hit the pillow. Tomorrow morning is the weekend, so I might as well go to the building while bringing the babies along. My last thought sounded like a blurry whisper as I felt my mind going to dreamland.

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The next day. . .

There only two buildings that I could buy, the scary farm or the haunted mansion. It was a weird but pleasant experience.

As we returned home for the day, I let Liam play in the backyard with the chickens and goats, while rockabyed the baby and wrote the experience I had.

"Scary Farm:

— In the desolated area on the opposite side of tiene and quite closer to the city walls.

— People claim that the spirit of the farmer still flies around searching for victims.

— As funny as magic does exist here, so does ghosts. But the farmer's ghost is not the terrifying part. Is the dog's farmer.

— The soul of dog's farmer keeps being he guardian and doesn't want other people lo live there.

Haunted Mansion:

— It was more like an asylum rather than a mansion. It just has the form of one.

— There are some invisible spirits, but most of them are confused and can become pretty aggressive if you bother them.

— The ghost that does have enough consciousness to at least know he is indeed dead, has told me that most of these people were unfairly judged and now want a sense of of either closure or normalcy.

— I might have to talk to a priest or someone who knows more about the spiritual world and of the subject.

— It somehow looks far more promising than the Scary Farm, hey I don't it will work out with it's backgrohnd history.

Third option:

—Build the renting space from cero beside my restaurant.

— Far cheaper.

— Will help in the community by paying a lot of handymans and make workers who work in this type of work.

— The best solution in other Words.

On other news, I have reached the 6,000,000 copper/silver!! It's wonderful news, because now I can save the 30% of it for the taxes I have to pay in the December, and not having to worry about the money loss.

I would still have 4,200,000 for investing and save my father's inheritance money for a longer future.

Let's hope for the best."

I yawned and thought about things. I still need to check the plants and herbs from the sources that the witch professor has lend me. I pouted. I sighed resigned shortly after. Well, I will put Sipfra in charge, she has done it before as when I have to go and buy emergency supplies and this shouldn't be much different. I nodded to myself as I sat up and went to the kitchen to make lunch.

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The next day. . .

'And that should cost around 4,500 coppers Miss Baker.' The handy man told me as he and his team of handy men were practically starting to help me create a renting space for travelers and adventurers.

I nodded. 'Very well. Do you, accept silver?' I ask.

'Oh, em, sure.' The handy man accepted on behalf of his team.

'Great.' I took out eighteen silver coins and put them in his pouch. 'Here we go.' I told him.

'Thank you very much for this deal, Miss baker.' The handy man blushed.

'No problem, but, remember, no funny business with my employees, keep to yourselves and we are all good.' I reminded him. Since they are going to work on things for over a week, I need to keep both sides separated. I told myself.

'Don't worry, most of our wives like to come here every now and then, so it's best for us to just work and not notice the other beauties.' The handy man joked and went to work. 'Bye Miss Baker!'

'Bye!' I waved at him goodbye and returned home.

Today, I decided to take a break from work and just go take a ride on one of my horses through town. And with my children, of course.

As I asked through the road, I noticed that there are some many more people now. I wonder what happened? I thought to myself.

'Hello Miss Baker!' The librarian waved hi to me. 'How are you this beautiful morning?' He asked.

I stopped the horse with a small. 'Very Good Mr. Woodbook.' I greet him back with a smile. 'Got anything new?' I asked.

'I'm afraid not.' Mr. Workbook shook his head. 'Most of the ones that want to read are kids, but, most of these books are for, ehem, adults.' He clarified indirectly.

'Oh my.' I raised my eyebrows and blushed a little. 'Not even a romance novel?' I asked.

'Oh, those did arrive.' The librarian nodded and put his broom on the wall. 'Wait here, please.' Entered his library and after a few minutes, he came out with two books. 'These books are the lastest arrivals. Hope you like them.' He gave them to me.

'Thank you very much.' I put the books away and rides away. 'Have a nice day!' I parted on my way.

'Have a nice day too!' He said goodbye and kept sweeping.

I quickly found out after moving closer to the capital, that the reason why not many people in he countryside knew what stories were, was because of the limited education one could have. It only made sense as since I've been living her in the outskirrs of the city, I've been seeing a kot of books of ficticios and romance stories. Insmiled to myself as the morning progressed, so did the amount of people, and because there are more people now, things like traffic have started to give me city flashbacks. Something that doesn't suit me.

I moved to this place to not have that much traffic problem. I slammed my face as I saw the disorganized traffic. 'This can only downhill from now on.' I murmured to myself and sighed heavily.

As soon as I saw the rightful path for me to cross, I quickly took and barely made it because a chariot was running and I was barely able to get away from it. Of course, I gasped from indignation. 'Hey!! Watch it! I have kids on board!!' I reclaimed.

'My apologies mam!' The coachman got out of his place exhausted. 'It's been a busy month!'

I frowned. 'Because of the people, or?' I asked.

'Phew! That's mild way to put it!' The coachman exclaimed as he opened the door for a whole family of five. 'Ever since that restaurant with bakery, or bakery with restaurant opened, many families have decided to settle down here!' He exclaimed passing a hand through his hair. 'We are more of a medium size town now than like a village today!' He added taking the luggage to what it seems the family's home. 'I apologize again!' He then went back to his job.

Restaurant with bakery? I frowned and then it clicked. Oh oh. IT'S MY FAULT!! I gasped at the realization. Although I couldn't stay in my thoughts for long, I needed to keep moving and that's what I did. I feel guilty now. Let's see, what can I . . . I thought about it as we got to the park and I let the kids run through the grass.

I couldn't come up with something.

'Amelia! Look!' Liam pointed to a red frog. 'A red frog!' He got closer to it.

Oh oh. I panicked and got up. 'L-Liam! Don't touch it! It's venomous!' I warned him.

Liam immediately retracted his hand and stood a feet away.

'Phew!' I cleaned the sweat from my forehead. 'You need to be careful, Liam.' I kneeled to his height.

'Sorry, I didn't know.' Liam looked at his feet.

'That's okay, I was here to stop you, but. . .' I thought about something for a second. 'If it looks colorful, pretty and you don't know what it can do to you, don't touch it nor be near it. Okay?'

Liam nodded smiling.

'Alright, let's have lunch shall we?' I suggested.

'Okay!' Liam took my hand and we got away from the pond and the frog.

As we sat down to eat our sandwiches and my thought wandered about how in heck I would be able to make mayonnaise. . . The answer to traffic problem hit me.

. . .

A few hours later. . .

Now, there were two men in the central of town, where the traffic was stronger. Both had two flags, one green and one red.

The red stopped one side of the traffic and the green allowed the opposite side to move. Then the flags would change position and then the traffic would change too.

'Now this, is order!!' I exclaimed patting the boys gratefully on the shoulder. 'Good job guys, and thank you. Bye!' I said goodbye to them and parted to my home on the horse and kids.

The mayor and the men should come up with the hard parts afterwards.

As I rides back home, I saw that the building that was being built was already almost constructed completely. 'Wow! Such a good job!' I smiled proudly. I soon saw some tools and material levitating here and there. 'Oh, no wonder things are moving so quickly. There's must a magician here.' I noted.

The handy man in charge welcomed me and gave me a small tour around the place. It seems like, 5 small settlements inside the place are completely finish and designed for single people and should be good to paint and find forniture for.

'You guys work like lighting!' I complimented them. 'Impressive!'

'Hehe. Well, we do what we can, about the bathroom thing, I do suggest that you find a real constructor to make that happen.' The handy man told me. 'I also suggest labeling or diving the whole building by two if you want to have both male and female people living side by side.' He suggested to me.

'I'll take note of that.' I promised him. 'So, how about a nice free meal for everyone?' I offered.

The handy man and his group turned to see with bright eyes. 'Really?!'

'Yes! It will be small but, better that than nothing right?' I said with a smile.

The handy man bowed and and thanked me loudly.

We went to the restaurant and I prepared small meals for them. From the looks of it, they haven't been able to eat from my restaurant, so their reactions were worth gold.

I gave them a normal sandwich of ham, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese, although I added some dried leftover bacon that could still be used. I gave them normal wine or whisky because the other drinks are practically more expensive. I served to some of them sweet potato soup, other pumpkin cream soup, and those who did not wanted soup received some meat buns. As for dessert, I gave them mini pies of choice or muffins.

They all left home with their bellies full and thank me as they left through the door.

Liam, though small, came to help with the dishes and we quickly arranged ourselves and the baby to sleep.

"Tomorrow, I should search for furniture and make posters for renting space.

For the furniture for each house, it should include:

— 1 bed.

— 1 table.

— 1 chairs for the table.

— 1 big chair on the small living room + a coffee table.

— 1 Night desk.

— Curtains for the window.

— Paint.

This whole place should also include:

— A library.

— A common room with tables, chair and a giant board with yearly announcements, job offers and newspaper.

— A kitchen or fireplace.

— A small area or patio for people to have tea and maybe eat outside.

— A stable for horses (Make one a side of the stable I already have due to not trusting thieves).

— Probably get a big good luck charm like the one in the restaurant to avoid or prevent bad people from coming to the place.

That's all for now I guess."

I put the book down and went to sleep like I haven't slept in days.

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A few days later. . .

The complex of the eight resident apartments was now finished with all the furniture included. I only needed to find the right chairs and tables for tea parties outside and it should be done. Also flowers, there needs to be a garden to attract people both from outside to inside the building.

The only other thing that I would really like is to be able to find a way to make a bathroom out of the small space I made sure every single apartment had. Sure, if there's no remedy, then they people would have to use the bathroom outside, but like me, I would like to offer the luxury of bathing inside, especially during winter getting closer.

I have cero knowledge on plumping. I admitted. Perhaps I should send a letter to my kids asking for their livestyle. I took out some paper and started to send write a letter asking for help. Hopefully, I shall receive answer soon. Oh! I should also ask Lottie about a new good luck charm for the new place. I remembered and asked Lottie about it in the letter.

*Toc toc toc* My door knocked.

'Come in!' I told that to whoever it was through the door.

The person entered and when I looked up, I saw Clementine entering shivering in fright with a black eye, bruised cheek and whimpering while crying.

'Oh my stars!' I sat up jumping and went to her. 'What happened?!' I asked her quite shocked.

'A-A man. . . A man he. . . H-He. . .' Clementine started to cry out loudly.

I hugged her and consoled her. 'Easy there, easy there.' I patted her on her back.

'I-I. . . I-I'm sorry. . .' Clementine said. 'The orphanage throwed me out!. . . I-I was going t-To. . . St-stay in the inn, but. . . A drunk man caught and tried to . . . To. . .' She wailed out of pain and anger.

'There there, Clementine, there there.' I made pressure in the hug.

'I-I fought off. . . B-But had to run. . . He-he has friends. . .' Clementine looked to me. 'I-I'm sorry, he-he followed me all the way and. . .' She looked down and saw Liam who was confused and terrified. 'He-He is going to come. . . I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I forgot you don't like men in your house!!' She dropped on her knees. 'I-I just needed help! I-I wanted a place to hide! Your home looked safe! I-I-I . . . Forgot you had children to protect!!!' She wailed and cried out of frustration.

I kneeled beside her. 'Clementine, calm down.' I ordered in a serious tone. 'First off, Am I throwing you out right now?' I asked her.

Clementine tried to calm down herself and shook her head.

'Am I scolding you for being stupid?' I asked again. I won't deny it, she was really stupid to think that giving her safe place away was a good idea, but right now I need her to think of a solution. She needs to get herself and me out of this and wailing won't get her anywhere.

She shook her head.

'Then?' I asked her. 'Second, yes you were being stupid thinking the great sugar mill might "scare them off," but news flash, this is a restaurant, not a knight's base.' I clarified to her. 'Third, now that you came to me, they will probably try to take advantage of me just as you took advantage of my kindness right now!! You just put me and MY KIDS in danger because you THOUGHT that the restaurant was safe when it's CLOSED!!!' I reprimanded her. 'I understand that you were scare, but that doesn't give you the right to make things hard for other people! And just because you are crying doesn't mean I'm going to be easy on you, because, last time I checked, I made sure to let you ALL OF YOU, that while I can help for the most part, I CANNOT help with MEN!!'

Clementine was sobbing in the floor. 'I-I'm sorry. . . I'm. . . So sorry.' She sobbed.

'Damn right you'll be sorry.' I assured as her as I started to pack the most important things. 'Because once we get out of here, you are SO going to pay whatever it is that those men destroy, understood?!' I asked her with anger.

Clementine nodded while still shivering,

I went to her and kicked her softly. 'And get up!! Do you want to live or not?!' I scolded her. 'Make yourself useful and take as many food as you are capable in your bag, NOW!!' I ordered her.

She sat up and did as I told her.

I took Liam, my baby girl, the keepsake, the money and savings I will not leave behind and I immediately went to the stables with Clementine on my toes. 'I hope you know how to ride a horse Clem!' I opened the doors and quickly settled the horses. 'Because pray you don't fell. These horses only follow me when needed, you fall, you will be left behind. Understood?'

Clementine nodded.

'Good, now hop on!' I told her to do as I ordered and we both ran to the Silverwood village.

. . . .

Three days later. . .

Mrs. Silverwood and the Mayor of Bakingwood teamed up to find the responsables for the disaster at my restaurant.

They quickly found them and turned out to be slave traders who were taking old enough young ones from the orphanage once they were kicked out. The orphanage owner, obviously had a big part of it and was sentenced to jail among the many others who railed my restaurant.

The orphanage of the children were sent to the orphanage at Silverwood along with Clementine, who was also found guilty for purposely endangering me and my kids just because she wanted to get the men off her back without thinking of the consequences. Thankfully, I was compensated from the mayor and the culprits' since the men group were to blame and Clementine was still young.

I had to shut down the restaurant for a few days, and I feared that the new business project might stand at disadvantage of getting clients because of the lack of protection.

I still went to post some posts and hope for the best as the trial finally ended and I went back home. I need to really get a new cook, and this time, I'm going to make a background check in each applicant just to be safe. I sighed heavily at the thought of it. That, and reinforce the rules of attachment and help, as well as add new exceptions and especifications.

I quickly returned to my broken place and finished the letters for my twins.

I must have been a bit tired and dissociative because I accidentally wrote a bit of the "setback" that had happened, but I decided to just add that we are all okay, and the damage was "minimal." Then I put the letters into my mail box and quickly prepared the animals eat and sleep and took my kids and I upstairs.

Liam was traumatize by the horrible scene of the damage, so he asked to sleep with me alongside the baby. I couldn't say no, but I also didn't feel safe, so I quickly went to take a knife and hided it under my pillow.

Liam and the baby got to sleep by my side almost immediately, but I could not sleep a wink due to the irrational fear of it.

My mind wandered about the good luck charms and wondered why they were so ineffective. Then, I quickly concluded that they weren't ineffective, they goals are just different. The goal of the charms that we have on ourselves is that they protect us and correlate good luck and fate around us.

The luck must have been able to find the soldiers which we found midway to the Centre building.

As for the giant decorative amethyst, the luck that it had must have been not making everything turn up in flames. After all, the soldiers found matches that weren't mine and a small box of dynamite. In other words, the good luck charms DID work. Just not the way one hopes for. I started to feel relief and my mind eased up enough so I could start closing my eyes.

But. . . I should also ask my daughter to practice enchanting things or create spells for barriers. I thought about it. For now. . . I'm tired. I closed my eyes and went to a deep sleep.

Hoping to still be alive for tomorrow.