Chương 77: 76: Breakfast Chat

I took my boots off right inside the main entrance of the farm manor and placed my heavy coat on one of the many hooks lining the wall in the long, open space that made up the mess hall/meeting space of the main room. There were double rows of trestle tables with benches lining both sides. The tables could fit as many as forty people at a time comfortably. To the right were several rooms that served as offices for both Emily and me, as well as Lieutenant Woolsly while he was stationed here on the homestead.

To the left was our huge, industrial kitchen. Occupying most of the back wall on that half of the building, the stove was technically all one piece, but there were ten full ovens that were fueled by coal. They could be used for baking and as griddle tops. The left wall held four enormous washtubs, with countertops in between.

I took my basket of potatoes to the leftmost sink to rinse them off before I cut them up on the big butcher block island, which ran the length of the ovens, creating a sort of galley kitchen layout if you ignored the washbasins on the side. The island served as both a food prep space, and food staging so people could line up and move in an orderly fashion if they were being fed buffet style. I greeted Anna and Tess, two women who weren't related, but who certainly looked like they were.

Both women had fiery red hair with pale skin and freckled faces. They were both thin but wiry women who had no problem keeping up with hard labor. They didn't take themselves too seriously when they weren't working, but while they were, they were all business. I turned on the spigot that contained a hot water enchantment just as Emily came down the stairs. She sported a frustrated look on her face that was ignored for the moment. Instead, I smiled and said, "Morning love."

She gave me a tight smile, but she walked over and gave me a peck on the lips. We were married now, so that was an acceptable show of affection in public. I gave her a hug, then said, "I love you. It's going to be a wonderful day." The look she gave me said she disagreed with the latter part of that statement, but she said she me she loved me back. I wasn't the cause of her current stress. That culprit made his way down the stairs right then. Colin was fully kitted out for a cold-weather scouting trip.

No doubt he'd been upstairs speaking with Hari, Glenn, and Woolsly who liked to talk shop up in the library upstairs. Once we ate, there would be an argument about Colin joining the two men on their scouting trip. Colin badly wanted to join the regular army so he could get a true Scout class, like Hari and Glenn. It would be great for his Homesteader subclass. But it was hard to get. If you signed up for at least a six-year term in the army, they gave it to you if you could qualify.

Colin would have no trouble doing so. Emily thought he was too young to join up, especially during a war, but sixteen was the legal enlistment age for the Albionese Army. It was when you got your class and became an adult, after all. The argument had been going on since the day we returned after the siege. I tried to stay out of it, especially since I agreed with Colin's position. Sure, it was dangerous, but it was also a great way to level.

I'd adopted him when I married his mother, but I was definitely the stepfather when it came to this argument. I had enjoyed being married to Emily so far, and I knew that I needed to avoid getting too entangled with this argument if I wanted to continue enjoying myself in the short term. Hari, Glenn, and Woolsy were all veterans. Woolsy had served for sixty years before he came out here. The other two had served twenty years. They were fully in camp, let Colin spread his wings.

They didn't have to keep Emily happy, so they fully expressed their opinions anytime the discussion came up. As I broke out of my musings, which I was entirely too wont to do, I saw Colin smile at me sheepishly, then he left the house. He was probably going to grab his new rifle, which I'd bought him before the siege. This new long-barreled sniper variant of the Harold rifle shot a "hotter" bullet that Scouts could reliably kill targets with at 800 yards with the proper skill path.

Colin would no doubt go for a concealment/tracking route that synergized with his main class, but he could still choose a perk or two that would help him with distance shooting. Emily watched Colin leave the house, then turned and began helping me wash and cut the potatoes. I preferred to make shredded hashbrowns, but it was a pain in the rear, so we usually cut them into small cubes and fried them in butter. We had plenty of butter, milk, and cheese now that Brendan was keeping us fully stocked.

He was going to try some new cheeses after we'd discussed some Earth types. Most cheese on Talamh was soft and meant to be eaten relatively quickly. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Brendan had been slightly freaked out when he was fully informed of everything, but Ginny had been right on top of things. Once she found out I'd actually farmed on Earth, she plied me with farming and dairy questions for hours. I wasn't an expert on cattle, but I knew a bit.

I'd had friends who had dairies as I was growing up, so I wasn't completely ignorant. I'm not sure how much I helped, but I was able to describe some cheese techniques they were going to try. Their skills made up for quite a bit of the scientific method farmers on Earth had needed to optimize milk production and crop rotation, but they were still happy to look at any way that could give them an advantage.

Once the whole batch was ready, I grabbed a good-sized dollop of butter on my new steel spatula and threw it on the already hot stovetop griddle. The sizzle of butter and the smell of the potatoes, along with the copious quantity of garlic that one of the girls had cut up for us, gave me a pang of nostalgia and guilt. With the benefit of hindsight, I was missing my family, especially my grandparents. I missed having breakfast with them. But it was nice that we had a big group here for breakfast every morning, too.

I hoped we'd always be able to cook family-style on the homestead even after the soldiers left. At the smell of cooking ham, I looked over and saw that Tess was frying up ham steaks to go along with the eggs Anna was preparing. Right on time, the soldiers began filing into the house to fill their bellies before they did whatever duty they were assigned to today. We'd had no issues with the militiamen turned full-time soldiers yet.

They were a good lot for the most part, and even the couple of assholes in the group knew they needed to play nice since Weston was still a relatively small community. Fear of being ostracized kept most people in check. Lieutenant Woolsy's threats of running laps around the perimeter of the homestead kept those who might otherwise still cause problems from doing anything too out of line. Once everyone had full plates, the four of us who had been on serving duty grabbed plates of our own.

Anna and Tess went to join their husbands, while Emily and I joined Hari, Glenn, and Woolsy upstairs in the small family dining room. When we were seated, everyone quieted down. Hari and Glenn looked down at their plates, while Woolsy fingered his pipe longingly. He was an arrogant old man, but he had a strong belief in following decorum, and decorum dictated that you didn't antagonize your hosts at their table while you were eating.

Once the meal was done, he'd happily tell Emily how, as a woman, she just didn't understand the male need to wander and fight. Then, I'd have to tell him he was out of line, and he'd harrumph and go outside to smoke his pipe. Emily sighed and said, "You all know my opinion on the matter, and we have argued about it for quite some time now." She looked at Hari and Glenn and said, "Come on, you two. Look at me. I think this is a foolish decision, but I can see that I will not win.

Colin is a man in the eyes of the System, and the empire." She took a breath and continued on.

"I have registered my objections, but it is clear that he will do as he wishes. I do not agree that he is ready, but I appear to be alone in this belief." Woolsy looked up at that and sensing decorum would allow him to make a comment said, "They are excellent Scouts. I will make sure that Colin remains in the Territorial Expeditionary Forces. And, I might add, he won't be removed from Weston's militia until this business is settled." I frowned and asked, "Is he even in the militia officially yet?"

"Yes," Woolsy said.

"As of today. It is the first after all. I registered him through my militia interface."

"That was quick," I said.

"Yes, well, I wanted to make sure he was under my command and that he didn't make a rash decision to head off and sign up for the regular army right away." Emily looked startled. I was too, but mostly at Woolsy's quick thinking and surprising decency. It was a real kindness to Emily. I knew that a year ago he wouldn't have thought about helping her out, but she was now an important asset, and my wife. She was basically country gentry now. I smiled at Hari and Glenn as they cautiously looked at Emily.

"Thank you," Emily said, then dug into her plate of food. The matter was now closed. Once we were done, Hari and Glenn said they'd collect Colin, then begin a five-day patrol along the river to the north. Before this cold snap, it had been fairly warm all winter, and most of our moisture had come in the form of rain. That made scouting miserable. Now that the almanac said it would remain below freezing for a week, they intended to cover a lot of ground to check for tracks.

They'd teach Colin some scouting tricks along the journey. They'd be sleeping in sealskin sleeping bags that would keep them from freezing, but I didn't envy their trip. Emily told them she wanted to have a word with Colin now that she'd capitulated. Hopefully, the tension on the homestead would ease now. Woolsy announced he needed to go see to his troops, and no doubt smoke his pipe. That left me all alone with nothing to do at the moment. I decided to spend some time looking at my almanac.

Even though it had been two months, I still kept going back to the quests I'd accepted when I first clicked on the secret tab that only showed up for those who the System believed might help it gain freedom from the cabal of nobles who had suborned it. Quest: Render aid to the System.

Unfortunately, in order to allow the System to adapt to changing circumstances, the System had to be left accessible so that new classes could be created as new technology was developed or brought by new arrivals to Talamh Merlotus feared that one day a small cabal of powerful men with access to System controls could suborn the System, so he inserted instructions that would be triggered if certain parameters were changed by future Wizards. Unfortunately, those parameters have been triggered.

You have been determined to be a viable candidate for inclusion into the Order of Merlotus in order to restore the System to its proper status, in order to allow humanity to thrive. Acceptance into the Order is not voluntary. If you have seen this message, you can either accept the prompt or you will be marked as a danger to the System. Members of the Order will be instructed to hunt you down.

Quest - System Knight By accepting admission into the System Knights, you will be pledging to assist Emperor Harold II in his mission to free the System from human control. Note 1: The System Knights are a sub-order within the Order of Merlotus. They pledge to render active aid when the time proves advantageous to move against those who have suborned the System. Note 2: You may choose to accept or refuse this designation, but there may be consequences.

All members of the System Knights will know you have declined the offer. I had clearly hit accept after reading both quests a good dozen times. I don't know how I would have reacted had I seen them out of the blue, but luckily I knew what I was getting myself involved in. Oh well, it was a big deal, but something that was hopefully far off into the future. For now, I'd farm and keep my tractor in working order. Anything outside was a worry for a later time.