Getting Building

 

Later the day after receiving Bar's proposal, Bar, Joan, and Dolly walked over to the house where Ander lived, bag of gold in hand. They had decided to use most of the rest of their savings to pay, and Claire would dip into her remaining amount when it came time to pay for the labor.

“Should we really be walkin' 'round with all this money?” Dolly asked nervously.

Joan nodded, “We'll be fine. Academy city is fairly safe, and Bar can defend anyone who attacks us.”

“I don't even have a sword on me, though...” Bar said.

They reached the house, and walked up to the door to knock.

They heard shuffling inside, and the door was opened by Ander's wife again. “Oh my, are you one of-...wait I recognize you two,” she proclaimed with a smile. She then looked over at Dolly.

“Uh, nice to meet you, I'm Dolly,” she said with a rough curtsy.

The lady nodded. “I'll go get Ander.” She turned around, “Ander, dearie, someone's here to see you.”

After a moment, Ander appeared, smiling when he saw Bar. “Hey, good to see you again. I thought you'd forgotten about me.”

Bar smiled sheepishly and shook his head. “No, of course not, I've just been busy with classes.”

Ander laughed, “Haha, of course, your education should take priority over working.”

Bar chuckled, “Yeah, I hear that a lot. Thanks for agreeing to take on our job, here's the payment,” Mac said, handing over the bag.

Ander smiled. “Alright. Will all of you be helping me?”

Joan jumped in. “Dolly and I will. Bar is going to classes. Like you said, education.”

Ander smiled and nodded, “Right-o.”

“We do have a few more who will come help when they can, though. Even besides you knocking some off the price, we'd like to have it finished as soon as we can.”

Ander smiled again and nodded. “Excellent. I'll have everything we need to start tomorrow morning.”

They said their goodbyes and turned to leave, when he called after them. “Oh by the way, don't forget to lock your door! When I went down to inspect, no one answered my knocking, but the door was left unlocked.”

Bar blushed as Joan and Dolly giggled at him.

 

The next day of classes, during lunch, Bar had another 'lesson' with Miss Renee.

After they had finished with the 'physical' part of the lesson, Miss Renee zipped her skirt up, then reached over to grab a container, handing it over to Bar. “Here, this is for you.”

Bar remembered she had talked about bringing food last time, so just accepted, since he was fairly hungry anyway. Inside were...cookies. Bar looked up at her.

Miss Renee blushed slightly, “I made them myself.”

Bar grabbed one and took a bite. It was...not bad. Not as good as Belle or Joan's, but still fairly sweet. “Thanks, they're pretty good.”

Miss Renee blushed more as she watch him scarf down the cookies, before handing the container back. “I'm so glad you enjoyed them. I'll make more for next time.”

Bar held up a hand. “That's okay.”

Miss Renee pouted, “I thought you liked them...”

Bar shook his head, “No, uh, they are good, I meant...it would be bad if I'm eating cookies every other lunch.”

Miss Renee looked liked she just had an epiphany. “Of course. I'll make something healthier next time.”

“That's...thanks,” Bar decided to just say with a smile.

 

Earlier in the day, down at Dolly's, Joan, Dolly, Mio, and Becky were standing in front of Ander, who looked a bit confused. “Uh...didn't expect this many...”

Becky bowed, “I'm Becky, maid of one of the women collector's fiances.”

Mio smirked, also giving a rough bow, “I'm Mio, also maid of one of his fiances.”

Ander chuckled, “Haha, how many fiance's does this man have?”

Joan and Dolly both blushed.

Ander turned around, “Haha, well, let's get to it. He took a board and set it up on a sawhorse. “Which of you have sawed wood before? I wanna make sure everyone is doing it correctly before we start.”

Nobody raised their hand.

Ander sighed a bit. “Well, have any of you hammered a nail before?”

This time, Dolly raised her hand.

“Are you the one who did the shoddy repair jobs around here?”

Dolly laughed, “Haha, yeah, that's me.”

Ander laughed back, “Haha, we'll get you trained up a bit then.”

 

The morning was spent teaching the four women how to do some basic carpentry. After a few hours, Ander deemed them to be serviceable.

“Alright, good job all of you,” he said to the four exhausted woman. “I think we can actually get started now.”

They all looked at each other. Even the normally composed Becky was sweating and looking tired.

“Well, maybe we can take a bit of a break,” Ander replied.

As if on queue, the front door opened, and Bethany walked in. “Grandfather, I brought lunch. I figured you'd have some help, so I made a bit extra, too...” she said.

The four of them introduced themselves to Bethany, who was a bit shocked. “How many women are around this man?”

Becky, back to her normal self, replied, “He's a serial seducer. You better stay away from him.”

Ander replied, “Haha, I wouldn't mind my granddaughter marrying a hard worker like Bar. Seems smart, too, ain't he?”

Joan nodded. Since Claire wasn't there to proclaim it, she add “He did get second place in his year in the last exams.”

Ander laughed, “Haha, I knew it!”

Bethany did seem slightly impressed, but sighed, “I'm too busy looking after my grandparents to think of men.” She walked over and put the basket on one of the high-top tables. “Make sure you're home before dark or Grandmother will worry.”

Ander nodded, before reaching in and grabbing a sandwich slice. He took a bite, “Excellent as always,” he said, giving her a thumbs up.

Bethany smiled, then looked over at the others. “Make sure you eat too. I'm sure Grandfather will work you to the bone.”

They all got up and headed over, grabbing sandwiches as well.

Joan took a big bite, “These are really good.”

Becky nodded in agreement.

Mio also agreed, “They're on par with Belle's.”

Dolly looked at it, “Can we use these in our restaurant? They'd be a hit.”

Bethany smiled, “I don't mind, they're just sandwiches...”

Ander clapped her shoulder, “Do you need extra cooks? My Bethany here would be a hit.”

“We might, it's always hard to find enough good help,” Dolly said, staring off into the distance.

Mio poked her side, “Hey, Joan and I stuck with you to the end.”

Dolly laughed, “Haha, I know, I said enough good help. We need more than three or four people to run a restaurant.”

Bethany seemed to think. “I'll consider it.”

 

After classes were out at the academy, Cob and Alice were meeting in the back of the library.

“Let's do this quickly,” Alice said, looking around.

“I thought we were meeting today because you didn't have your club?” Cob asked confused.

“I don't, I just don't want anyone seeing us together,” she explained.

Cob sighed, “Well, let's get to it then. Did you learn anything?”

Alice nodded, “He has many women in his room at night.”

Cob ground his teeth, imagining Bar must be having some sort of orgy every night at his dorm. “That bastard....”

Alice nodded. “I counted his two servants, Francesca and her servant, and the Dorm Mistress with her two servants.”

Cob blinked a couple times. “The Dorm Mistress!?”

Alice nodded. “Yes, she's one of the women he's added to his...ragtag harem. I don't know about her servants, one is probably around Bar's age, shoulder-length black hair, and really thin. The other looks to be on the older side, with large breasts and longer brown hair. I'm not sure about Francesca's servant, something tells me she-”

Cob cut her off. “Wait, he is banging the Dorm Mistress!? I just started that rumor to cause problems, I didn't realize he actually...what awful taste in women he has.”

Alice wanted to slap him. What an ass, does he not remember that the whole reason we're talking is because Bar once pursued me? Barely managing to keep herself calm, she replied, “Well, that's what I got from staking out the dorms. What did you discover?”

Cob looked away. “Not much, unfortunately. After school he generally just studies with that ugly drills-girl in the library. The only irregular thing I found was he went to Miss Renee's office a few times during lunch.”

Alice raised an eyebrow, “Miss Renee? But why? His Language grade was good last exam.”

Cob shrugged, “I dunno, maybe he's banging her, too.”

“You really think so?” Alice asked.

Cob looked sideways. “I, uh, listened in a bit one time. I didn't hear anything, though, it was just silence.”

Alice nodded.

Cob crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “This is ridiculous. We can't spread rumors about him and the Dorm Mistress again, and saying he's banging Francesca would be laughed at since it's known they're courting. I don't want to risk saying anything about Miss Renee, when it seems like she must just be giving him extra work.”

Alice looked at the ground, thinking. “Should we continue looking into things? Should we try tailing the others?”

Cob raised an eyebrow. “Tail the others? Don't they just go to Bar's dorm?”

Alice shook her head, “No, they would come and go at random times.”

Cob thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, you see if you can figure out anything there. I'm going to try following Gerard.”

Alice was confused, “Gerard? Gerard Coronet? This is about Bar, who cares about Gerard?”

Cob shook his head. “Gerard is his buddy. If we are to take down Bar somehow, we can't have Gerard interfering again.”

Alice seemed uncomfortable. “I am not going to start a quarrel with Gerard. He is sure to be a military commander once he graduates. You understand, right? I would be working with him.”

Cob frowned angrily. “Damned politics...fine, I'll do everything with Gerard myself. Just get any info on Bar or his women you can dig up.”

 

Later, Bar was heading back to his dorm. Francesca needed to go send a letter to her parents, so he was walking back alone.

When he opened the door, his olfactory senses were assaulted by an onslaught of smells. “What in the-” Inside, he could see a half dozen dishes all lined up on the counter. Oh, Belle was practicing. Where is she? He looked over, and Belle was sleeping on one of the beds, conked out in her maid outfit.

Bar smiled and walked over. Good work Belle.

The door opened, and Mio walked in. “Hey Belle-”

Bar held up a finger to quiet her, and Mio recoiled. “Sorry...”

Bar shook his head and closed the door. “It's okay, she must be tired from cooking. How are you? Is everyone coming back?”

“I was also tired, so they sent me back a bit early to have Belle start making dinner, since they were all hungry. Looks like I didn't need too, though...” she said, walking over and salivating at the steaming food. Belle had made some buns, a slab of roasted pork, some sort of vegetable medley, and two different types of stews.

“If you wanna eat go ahead,” Bar said, taking off his uniform coat and hanging it up. “I'm gonna wait 'til the others are back.”

Mio seemed conflicted, but then sighed. “No, I'll wait too.”

Bar went and sat on the couch (pushed up against the wall with the beds since they'd had to rearrange furniture), leaning back into it.

Mio seemed to hesitate a bit, then walked over and sat next to him.

Bar raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

Mio had noticed, “What?”

“Nothing, I just didn't expect you to come sit next to me.”

“Why not? You have sex with your other maids, what's wrong with sitting next to me?”

Bar blushed, “Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just-”

Mio started giggling, “Haha, I'm just messing with you. No, I actually did want something.”

Bar nodded. “What did you want?”

“I wanted you to have sex with me too.”

Bar took a second to comprehend what she said. “Wh-what...”

“Yeah, I wanna have sex with you,” Mio said. “Remember, I propositioned you once before, back when you were over at the tavern to see Dolly.”

Bar remembered. It was hard not to when she was pulling down the front of her shirt, similar to how she'd done with her tavern outfit the last time.

Mio started giggling again. “Haha, you're too funny.”

Bar blushed, “Why are you teasing me?”

“'Cause you're cute when you're embarrassed,” Mio said, digging a finger into his cheek. “I did actually want one thing for real, though.” She scooted over next to him on the couch, and wrapped her arms around him. “Could you hug me again?”

Bar was a bit surprised, but decided to acquiesce to the harmless request. Mio was still thin, but Bar noticed she seemed a bit healthier now and was putting on some weight.

Mio didn't let go, instead clenching onto the back of his shirt.

“Are you alright?” Bar asked, gently rubbing her back.

Mio let go, and leaned back a bit.

Bar could see her eyes were a bit watery.

“Is it really okay for me to be here with you all? Like, forever?” she asked.

Bar nodded. “Of course.”

“Really though? Like, you're not gonna get tired and throw me out? I'm so tired of being alone. I don't want to sell myself to random guys anymore, or skip eating so I can save some extra money, or-”

Bar cut her off by hugging her again. “You're not alone with us. We're all here for you.”

Mio started sobbing softly into his shoulder, but smiled as she grasped him tightly.

“Even if you don't wanna be a maid, I'm sure we can find something for you.”

Mio giggled, “I don't mind being your maid. Besides, don't you like cute maids?” she asked.

Bar blushed, “Yeah...”

Mio now also blushed. “Say...what if I wanted a...kiss now?”

Reading the mood, Bar leaned over and touched her waiting lips with his.

No sooner had their lips made contact, then the door opened.

“Belle, is dinner ready? I-”

Mio jumped up. “Finally! I'm starving.”

Joan smiled, “You could have eaten without us.”

Mio smiled sheepishly and scratched her head, “Haha, if I'd started before you all, then I would have eaten it all.”

Belle had been woken up from all the commotion, pushing herself up. “Is it dinnertime?”

Dolly laughed, “Haha, you tell me, all this good-lookin' food you made!”

Becky looked over at Bar, who was sitting, a bit in shock from the rapid change of mood. “Are you thinking of which sweaty woman you want to grab first?”

Bar blinked a couple times, glancing at Mio, who seemed back to her normal self. He looked back at Becky, “Yes, I was thinking of hugging you,” he tried to tease back.

Becky, however was two steps ahead. “Very well,” she replied, then held out her arms.

“You don't need to hug me...” Bar replied, backing down.

Becky shook her head, “No, I must fulfill my master's wish,” she said, walking over and grabbing him from the side, getting her sweaty front on his blazer.

Bar was about to comment that he could feel her breasts on his arm, but at that moment, Francesca walked in, and just stared. Becky blushed slightly, before letting go. “Bar ordered me to hug him.”

Francesca giggled, “Somehow I think that's not the case...”

 

The next week passed fairly uneventfully. Bar continued having sessions with Miss Renee every other day during lunch, the tavern started to get a new look, and Belle's repertoire of dishes started getting better defined.

A few more days passed, and Bar and Francesca decided to end studying a bit early one day and go down to visit the tavern so see how things were progressing.

When they got close, they could hear the hammering from down the street.

Opening the door to go inside, he could see it was bustling with activity. Dolly was busy sawing off boards while Mio held them down. Joan was on a ladder hammering some freshly cut boards. Ander was busy ripping boards off in another section of the wall. And Becky and Bethany were busy painting one of the walls that looked to be new a dark-blue color.

When they were noticed, Joan came over and gave him a hug.

“What's wrong?” Bar asked, hugging her back, not minding how sweaty she was.

Joan blushed, “Sorry, was just missing you a tad.”

Dolly also came over, hugging them both. “I want in.”

Ander laughed, “Haha, you are popular with the ladies.” He looked over at Bethany, “You remember my granddaughter Bethany?”

Bethany nodded, and Bar nodded back.

Mio came over, “Are you gonna help?”

Bar smiled, assuming he was being teased, “I can help you if you want.”

Mio blushed slightly, not expecting that response.

Becky poked his side. “Good, your women have been doing all the work.”

Bar replied, “Does that mean you're one of my women?”

Becky, blinked a couple times, then averted her eyes.

This earned a giggle from Francesca. “Why are you being a tease today?”

Bar shook his head, “Just giving in kind.”

 

Bar briefly helped hammer some boards in, though after a bit it was time to call it a day and head home for dinner.

Despite being tired, everyone was laughing and having a good time, seemingly glad with how the tavern was looking.

While walking back, suddenly Mio pulled his sleeve down to whisper in his ear. “I need to check something, I'll catch up later,” and before Bar could respond, she had slid down an alley.

What!? Where is she going? Since he couldn't really stop, being surrounded by women, he just kept walking hoping Mio was alright.

When they got inside, Bar kept waiting, but Mio wasn't coming.

Joan, seeing Bar was anxious, asked, “What's wrong?”

Bar shook his head, “Mio said she was going to check something and split off, but she never caught back up.”

Francesca asked, “Did she say anything else?”

Bar shook his head.

“I saw her split off, but I thought she just needed to pee,” Becky explained.

Francesca poked her in the side. “Then we should have waited for her.”

“She said she was going to catch up, so just let her catch up,” Joan said.

Suddenly, the door opened, and...Claire walked in.

“Ha, I'm beat....what's for din-....what!? What's wrong?” Claire asked, seeing the worried look on everyone's face.

They caught Claire up with what had transpired, and Claire crossed her arms, tapping her foot. “I don't like this at all. You think some unruly man grabbed her? One of her former clients?”

The color drained from Bar's face, “We have to go look for her!”

Claire and Joan tried to calm him down. “It's okay, Mio will show up. Let's just eat dinner.”

Bar shook his head, “I can't focus when something might have happened to her.”

Belle gave a fist pump, “Yeah, we can't just sit here, let's go look.”

Dolly nodded seriously in agreement.

Bar went to the door and opened it, only for Mio to be surprised, hand halfway to the doorknob.

“Oh, hey...” Mio said with a blush.

Bar grabbed her in a hug. “Thank goodness.”

Mio blushed harder, looking at everyone behind him, who also seemed to have relieved faces. “What happened!?”

Bar let go of her, blushing slightly himself. “I...we were all worried about if something had happened to you.”

Mio shook her head, blushing again. “I'm fine...I was tailing someone.”

“Tailing...?” Bar asked.

Joan came over, pulling them both in and closing the door. “Let's have this conversation inside.”

 

After sitting Mio down, Claire asked, “Who were you tailing?”

“Someone that was tailing us. I had noticed her following us a few times before in the past couple weeks, but since she had on an academy outfit, I didn't think much of it. Today, though, she was tailing us again, and doing an awful job of being secretive. She seemed to have an angry look on her face.”

The others looked at each other. Claire seemed worried. “What did she look like?”

Mio made hand motions, “About this tall, probably same as Bar or Dolly. Big boobs, probably same as Joan. And black hair like mine, but down to her waist.”

Bar, Joan, Claire, and Francesca all shouted at once, “Alice!?”

Mio was taken aback. “Wait, Alice? The Alice you've talked about?”

“That bitch! I told her to stay away from us,” Francesca said, clenching her fists.

Bar looked at her, “What?”

Francesca blushed, “I...” she started, before gaining some confidence, “...I told her to stay away from us! I don't want her messing with our family. Apparently she didn't get the message.”

Joan sighed, while Claire shook her head. “Fran, I appreciate your dedication to us, but that was the wrong thing to do.”

“I tried to tell her as much,” Becky replied.

Francesca looked down. “Sorry, I...I just was so happy Bar accepted me.”

Belle shook her head, hugging her. “I know what you mean.”

Bar blushed, while the others giggled at him.

Claire held up her hand, “We can all mob Bar later, but I want to hear the rest of Mio's story.”

Mio nodded. “So, I waited in the alley then followed after her once she passed. She followed all of you and watched as you entered Bar's room. Then, she walked around the school building, towards the yard between the big building and that coliseum in the back. She slipped into the front of it.”

“Was she meeting someone?” Claire asked.

Mio nodded, “Yes. I didn't want to risk going in since I'm just wearing a loose town outfit, so I waited a bit behind a bush. After a few minutes, she and a guy both came out and walked away. Since if I tried to follow then the guy might have seen me, I just hunkered down until they were both gone, and then came back here.”

“Who was this guy?” Francesca asked.

Mio did hand motions again. “Short, brown hair, kinda plain looking...”

Claire laughed, “That could be half the academy.”

Mio shrugged, “He was a bit portly.”

Suddenly Belle shivered a bit.

Bar had the same idea. “Cob? Does she have a thing with him?”

Joan slapped his cheeks from behind. “I doubt it. What do those two have in common?”

Bar thought a moment. “They both hate me?”

Joan nodded. “Yes. Actually, it might be a bit fairer to say they hate all of us.”

Claire's mind seemed to be going into overdrive. “They must be trying to find something to blackmail us.”

Dolly chuckled, “Why would anyone wanna blackmail us?”

Claire blushed a bit, “Well, Alice wasn't too happy when Bar proclaimed his love for me in front of her....” she said with a bit of a smile.

Belle nodded, “And that...that...bastard Cob deserved to get beaten by you,” she said, as if building up her own confidence.

Claire nodded. “To raise their own stock they need to put down ours. It's all House politics. Amateurish, to be sure, but it still poses a problem.”

Dolly turned to Bar. “I can see why you wanna high-tail it out of noble society and get with a bunch of maids and tavern girls, haha!”

Bar felt like hugging Dolly for that, and so walked over and did so.

Dolly blushed a bit, hugging him back.

Joan stepped closer to Claire, and Francesca walked over to form a huddle.

“What should we do?” Joan asked.

Claire thought for a moment. “We need a plan...”

 

After finishing hugging Dolly, Bar checked with Belle. “Are you okay?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes! I...I can't just get upset anytime anyone mentions his name. I'll just think of you and be happy instead,” she explained, grabbing him tightly.

Becky smirked, while Mio gave a softer smile seeing them.

Bar walked over to the three huddled women, who looked up at him.

“Wh-what?”

Francesca looked down. “This is my fault. I must have pissed off Alice.”

Bar put a hand on her shoulder. “It's fine, I'm not mad.”

Claire nodded. “What's done is done. We need to figure out a way to counter this.”

Joan nodded. “Should we hold off on renovating a bit? Or maybe confront her?”

Claire rocked her head back and forth. “Maybe we should stop until we deal with this, but I'd rather not delay it if we can help it. I'm not sure about confronting her, either. She hasn't really done anything, even if it's suspicious.”

Bar interjected, “Could she be finding something to start a new rumor? Like Cob did?”

Claire nodded, “It's possible. Maybe...maybe she's trying to get something to blackmail you into accepting her proposal.”

Bar blinked a few times. “I would literally never accept with those conditions of hers. I'd drop out of school first.”

Joan and Claire both blushed. “Stop it...”

Bar shook his head. “I'm serious. I'm not going along with her, or Cob for that matter. You know...” Bar though, “...is it possible Lord Peckard put Cob up to this? He said he would never forget my 'slight' of not selling Belle back to him.”

“Maybe...this seems too tame for that, though,” Claire said. “We need more information on what exactly their plan is.”

Joan looked at Francesca, then at Mio.

Francesca looked over at Mio too, then back at Joan with a smile. “Are you thinking the same?”

Joan smiled. “Mio, let's go over to Fran's room really quick...”