It was surprisingly easy to claim a large plot of land outside the city gates. Apparently, no one owned it, so I just marked off a hundred acres of land that also included the small copse of trees where the teleportation circle was at the corner, and sent the claimed land deed to the lord of the city to send to the capitol on behalf of Rem, since she was the only legal resident of the Kingdom Of Lyferia.
It wasn't enough land to make her a noble or anything, since it was barely enough to be considered a fiefdom. It did give her a higher social standing than what she expected, since owning so much land gave her respect from the local population.
If she also made it into farmland, it would raise her value as well. If there was one thing the people respected, it was people who provided good food for them to eat. Most farms were only about 30 acres, so she had over 3 farms worth of land and could make a decent living, as well as offer jobs to the locals to make life that much better for everyone.
Since she would soon have access to 600 slaves of various skills, there was a lot Rem could do to make the area much more profitable than only having a farm or two, especially with the land right beside the main road.
Everyone that passed by would see it and that meant I couldn't just plop a basic living space down and call it a day. No, I had to make it look pretty and expensive, too. With transfiguration, conjuration, and some of the things I had in my inventory, there was no way I wasn't going to do the best I could do.
I first built a large three storey guard house on each corner of the 10 by 10 acre land, then connected them all with a low retaining wall with a wide walkway across it that was the height of the first storey. It would keep the creatures out and protect the people living there.
Once that was in place and enclosed the lands, I changed the stone's color to a nice yellowish white sandstone that really stood out from the local forts of dark grey. I added a set of large wooden doors in the center that were several feet thick that two carriages side by side could pass through.
Behind the doors, I made a nice courtyard with nice gardens, hedges, and a large fountain that was eye-catching and showed stone mermaids playing in the water with stone dolphins shooting water into the air. I was sure dolphins didn't exist here and it would be a great conversation starter as people asked about it.
Next was a grand entrance to the mansion and I made it like the entrance to a fancy hotel, where a carriage could drive up and drop people off underneath a large overhang. If it was raining, no one would ever get wet. I then started in on the main building. I chose an 'H' for the layout and made the center part large enough to have twenty windows on each side of the main doors.
I extended the floors up six stories and added peaked roofs with dormers, making the place the tallest building in the area. I added many different rooms to the main part of the 'H', with a very large kitchen, dining rooms, ball rooms, sitting rooms, living rooms, and a small library, since not a lot of people could read.
Bedrooms were added all along the two long parts of the 'H' for everyone that would be staying there. With six floors to play with, it was easy to make as many rooms as necessary to house everyone without making them crowd themselves together. They would have their own spaces and also spaces to gather together and hang out if they wanted.
I went into the first room and expanded it, then added an ensuite bathroom, a living area, a bedroom, and a mini-kitchen. When I was done making it, I realized it ended up becoming an apartment and laughed. Instead of everyone living in a single mansion like I planned, I was actually making an apartment building.
That revelation changed my plans only a little, so I filled the apartment with appropriate furniture, with a bed, couch, chairs, and a table. I added carpets, rugs, and magical lighting next and considered it done. I duplicated everything inside and went to the next room, expanded it, and dropped everything inside to make it a copy of the first, then repeated it for the rest of the 598 rooms.
I put more furniture in the other rooms as well, with a few games in the sitting rooms, like pool tables, dart boards, shuffleboards, bowling alleys, chess boards, and everything else I could think of that people could do during their leisure time that didn't require modern electronics to run.
The very last thing I added to the mansion apartment complex was a large master suite on the top floor and added a huge balcony to let us look out over the lands. It was for myself, Shera, and Rem to live in and I made it lavish without making it look gaudy. Of course, I also made a huge bathroom for us to relax in, with an in-floor Roman-like bath, a sauna, and a separate massage area.
This was all done in a single day, since I was rushing to get it done for all of the new occupants. However, it still took time and Rem was not happy about the delay, as predicted. She pouted the entire time she had to wait for me to finish and then I had to spend another day arranging spots to appear in to pick up all of the slaves. I would have to make it up to her after I retrieved everyone.
On the plus side, I now had an extensive teleportation network all over the Kingdom of Lyferia and all of the slaves liked not having to travel the long way to get to me, their new owner. I would broach that problem later and would talk to each of them individually to work things out.
I wanted to know if they wanted to remain as my slaves, if they had family, if they had lives before being slaves that they wanted to return to, and any other situation they might be involved in. Just because I bought them all, that didn't mean they had to remain slaves if they didn't want to be.
I just had to be careful about bringing up such a delicate subject, because I didn't want them to panic about being tossed aside or start to believe that I didn't want them. Some of them had grown up as slaves from birth and were firmly of the mind that their only value was as a trusted and skilled slave.
They couldn't handle the thought that they wouldn't be who they were anymore if they didn't have a protective collar. Those slaves I would have to be especially careful around, like the ones Melios used as examples for her wares. They were almost terrified of not having that belonging feeling they shared with their fellow slaves. To them, it was a stronger bond than family and they didn't want to lose it.
For now, I gave them a tour of their new home and settled them into their rooms. The awe and wonder on their faces warmed my heart and also let me know that only a few of them had seen something similar. Those were the bed-warmers Melios had used to spy on the rich clientele in the capitol city and I was glad they didn't think they were trading down when they were given their own rooms.
Of course, the slaves trained to cook, be maids and butlers, and maintain houses and the grounds, rushed into their new work areas and loved it. They immediately went to work, because with so many other slaves for them to take care of, there was more than enough for them to do to enjoy themselves.
I left them to it and went into the walled city of Faltra to go to the inn and retrieved Rem and Shera. It was time to show them the fruits of my labour and where they would be living from now on. It took a lot of apologizing and promises to make Rem finally leave the top suite of the inn and head to the reception desk on the ground floor to check out.
Mei the leopard-girl was sad we weren't going to stay there anymore, so I invited her to visit whenever she had time off. That just made her sadder, because she didn't have time off. She ran the inn, the dining area, and cleaned the place. She barely had time to sleep before her day started again. It kept her busy; but, it wasn't taxing. She loved her job and she enjoyed it, otherwise she would have quit a long time ago.
So, I kissed her and promised to visit whenever we went by to go to the Guild Hall. It put a smile on her face and she waved to us as we left the inn. Shera pulled out her snack sack and started munching as we walked through the city towards the west gate. I only hinted about what they were going to see when we reached our new home and neither of them were interested.
According to their thoughts, a house was a house and a barracks was a barracks. There was nothing either of them would be surprised by, since they had seen lots of houses and barracks since they were young. As soon as we stepped out through the gate, Rem stumbled at seeing the large guardhouse surrounded by the retaining wall that went as far as her eyes could see into the trees and along the road.
"Wh-what the hell is that?" Rem asked and pointed at it. "You were only supposed to make us a house! What's with the wall? And the walkway! And why is it all a weird color?!?"
Shera barely stopped her munching to mumble something similar.
I laughed and ushered them along. "I'll explain more when we reach the house."
"Wait, that's not it?" Rem asked and pointed again at the three storey guard house.
"No, that's the guardhouse." I said and waved at it.
"Atlas!" A dog man said as he poked his head out of the top window. "This place is great! We're still working out the patrol schedule, though."
"Make sure you leave enough time for naps when you reach the other guard houses before you keep patrolling." I cautioned him.
The dog-man laughed. "We've already added baths and playtimes! You can't have us nap, too!"
"Yes, I can." I said. "There's enough guards around to enjoy your work, so you can enjoy it and have fun while also doing your chosen jobs."
The dog-man nodded. "I'll pass it on! We'll come back to the main house by nightfall."
I waved before he ducked back inside. I put my hands on Shera's and Rem's lower backs to push them forward and we started walking again.
"How many houses..." Rem asked in a whisper.
"There are four guardhouses at the four corners of the land and there's only the main house in the middle of this side of the land by the road. I was going to set it in the very middle of the property, then realized that would ruin any farmland it contained and the walk to get to it would be way too long." I explained and she gave me a look that said I would be in trouble later for it. "Would you like to ride in a hand cart instead of walking? It's still pretty far to the entrance."
Rem shook her head and Shera handed her a piece of jerky. She accepted it and started chewing on it to keep her mouth busy. She didn't want to berate me for going way beyond what she had thought I was going to do to prepare her lands for her to live on them.
She kept giving me pointed looks as we walked and I tried to not laugh each time, because if she was like this after seeing the guardhouse and retaining wall, she was going to freak out when she saw the size of the mansion and what it had inside.
The one thing I didn't add was a pool, because that was just asking for trouble. Most of the beast-kin didn't like deep water or knew how to swim, so having a pool was kind of pointless. I would have to give a few lectures about how to use everything too, even the games.
It was kind of funny and kind of sad that I had to teach them how to relax and have a little fun, because as slaves, they didn't see much point in it. It wasn't a part of their mentality to enjoy something for themselves, not after being slaves for so long and being conditioned to be subservient to others.
Shera had been mostly silent as we walked and then made a choking sound. I patted her back and she spit out a partially chewed nut and gave me a very pointed look. I smiled knowingly at her, because we were close enough for her ability to feel how many people were nearby.
"What is it?" Rem asked and gave us a squinted-eyed look.
"You'll see. It's just up ahead." I said and ushered them forward again. "Even with the wall, you'll see it easily as we clear the next group of trees."
Rem opened her mouth to say something, then made a choking sound and pointed. Shera looked as well and her eyes widened at the 6 storey monstrosity of a mansion that could now be seen from the road.
"The doorway's right over there." I said and motioned towards them.
We had to walk a bit farther to reach the large double doors. Rem and Shera stared at the large doors as they opened easily and two dwarves saluted me. They were fully armored and had large battle axes strapped to their backs.
"Gentlemen." I said and saluted back before I led Rem and Shera inside to show off what would become our home together.
Rem was completely silent and her tail and ears remained still and didn't move during the whole tour of the place. I showed them everything I had done inside, including one of the few unused room-apartments for the slaves, and I told them they were all identical. Then I brought them up to the top floor and into the large main suite of the master bedroom.
Seeing where she would be living from now on, was a bit too much for Rem to take and she freaked out. She started ranting and raving about the waste of money, about the lavish and unnecessary accessories, like the plush carpets, the fancy drapes over the windows, the crystal chandelier that glowed with magic, and everything else.
Rem stomped around and kept shouting, working herself up into a proper tantrum, and I stood there and let her get it all out of her system. She gave me a few scathing remarks as well, especially after seeing how many barely dressed females that were prettier than her and also lived with us, and how she hated the fact I had reduced her and Shera to being only two of the many hundreds of slaves I owned.
When she finally stopped ranting, she had tears in her eyes and she dropped to the floor on her knees and hugged herself. Shera tried to rush over to her to comfort her and I caught her arm and stopped her. She glared at me and it was the first time I had ever seen her genuinely angry.
"Everything you've said, shouted, yelled, and ranted about is wrong." I said to both her and Rem. I let Shera's arm go and she dashed over to Rem and knelt beside her to hold her and hugged her. "After everything we've been through together since you brought me here to this world, do you really think me buying a slave, any slave, would put them into the same position that you and Shera have?"
They didn't say anything and only huddled on the floor as Rem cried.
"Do you?" I asked and they still didn't answer. "Answer me!"
Both Shera and Rem stiffened as they were covered in a green glow. "Yes... master."
I frowned at them and paced back and forth as I thought about that. "Have I ever done anything to make you doubt me or my actions?"
"Yes." They answered.
"When?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what they thought.
"Mei. Sylvie. Keera." They said and looked guilty.
"You can't seriously think..." I stopped myself from accusing them of being stupid. "They didn't summon me here. You did." They didn't say anything and I held in my sigh at having to order them again. "Tell me why you doubt me."
"You kissed them, flirted with them, and promised to bed them when they needed it." Rem said and lifted her tear-stained face to look at me.
"You didn't say that to us. You didn't promise. You don't think we're good enough to wait for." Shera said and lifted her head to look at me with tears in her eyes, too.
I opened my mouth to respond and had to stop myself again from telling them they were stupid. They must have seen something on my face, because they looked embarrassed and more tears flowed. I took a deep breath and let it out, then paced back and forth again.
"You won't believe me if I said it now, will you?" I asked.
"No." They both said.
"You charm who you want and do what you want. It's insulting that you didn't talk to us or even ask us for permission first." Rem added. "You don't really see us as partners and you pretend you need us, then bring us along when you want to."
"What about you saying you didn't want to let me out of your sight?" I asked.
Rem huffed and waved a hand around. "As soon as you were away from where I could see you, you bought hundreds of slaves, claimed a huge plot of land in MY name, and then built all of this! When did you talk to us about it? About any of this? Or asked if I wanted to become the owner of a fiefdom! Look at how much you've changed our lives the last few days without even asking us!"
I stilled at hearing that and realized I had majorly screwed up. It was arrogant of me to do all of this without even consulting them, since I saw an opportunity and capitalized on it before Melios or anyone else could stop me from saving so many people. That was when I knew that also meant Rem and Shera stopping me as well, and I felt guilty.
In the back of my mind, I knew if I had brought it up, they would have said no, so I didn't ask. I went ahead and did it and would face the consequences when they happened. I just didn't think Rem and Shera losing their trust in me was going to be one of them, or would be the only consequence I cared about.
"I'm sorry." I said and there was no way those words alone were going to fix anything. By the expression on Rem's face, she knew that, too.