A month has passed since that day with Jarl Korir. It was a month filled with paying money, spending money, and taking out more money.
My wealth that I cultivated since the day I became a thief was slashed by half.
I bought the two large pieces of land in front of the College's bridge, sent the ship and hired some carriages to bring me stuff from around Skyrim, hired Mahran from the 'Creation Club' to be my engineer, hired all the free laborers in Winterhold to be lumberjacks, and masons, invested with some blacksmiths to reopen their jobs, gave the management of the 'Soul Gem' business to Trudvar as he will look after my relationship with 'Whispering Mine' and the Master Huntsman, and gave Elishka some funds to start putting the girls under lovemaking training and a healthy diet to puff the assets of their frail bodies.
I also made some advertising to the Bathhouse in the College which was widely supported but I kept it unrelated to me. My title as the owner will be kept a secret but I may appear as the one who made it easy for the Bathhouse Mistress to open the business here.
Of course I own most 80% of the bathhouse as I decided to give Elishka 20%. I also promised the employees that the earnings of a 10% will be shared between them as a monthly bonus. This will make them put more effort into their jobs.
Some new girls wanted to work so Elishka interviewed them and I gave permission. Some of the girls asked not to take the lovemaking part of the business for lower wages than the ones who does. Elishka advised me to accept them anyway, she said most of the girls who ask for that will change their opinions in a matter of two months and will take the whole job. What annoyed her was the rule I set about the girls who are under eighteen yeaea of age. I insisted that girls under this age won't even take part at the bath business and will take other miscellaneous jobs. She agreed after I told her that it was not about money but for the girls themselves.
Of course, Bathhouses don't just offer a bathing and a lovemaking service, there is a hairdressing service as well as a laundry and a healing service so this project will not be just focused on just the companionship part.
The building of the Bathhouse will take the eastern part of the land which was nothing but old broken houses. It was directly on the left hand when one go out of the College.
Unlike other bathhouses in Solitude and Riften which were outdoors in tents and drew water from rivers. This Bathhouse will be a two story big wooden building with many rooms surrounding a central courtyard on a wide space of land. It would look somehow like the chinese structure of courtyards but I made this way because those girls will live there and it has to be their safe home and stronghold.
There will also be an underground basement which I really took time persuading the workers to dig. Of course the underground basement will serve as a place to keep our magical devices. We will use the technologies that I employed the 'Creation Club' to make. The 'Magical Water Pumping Device' and the 'Magical Water Desalination Device'.
After taking care of the facility we started putting the employees into their jobs.
I didn't think highly of the healing service as most of the customers will be from the College and can at least use the simplest healing spells, so the training was mostly about how to use razors and scissors for the hairdressing job. The laundry job was easy and students can do that just fine, maybe some of the teachers and the busy Evokers will use it.
The employees will be the girls and the guards.
Of course we can never rely on town guards for this business! I had now picked a security team from Trudvar friends and will be led by him. I sparred with them few times to hone their skill and tough them how to be professional claasy guards, not just some thugs. They were also promised free three hours a week in the Bathhouse beside there normal wage.
The guards won't be just guarding the Bathhouse, they will guard all the establishments I build after that such as my house and the other coming projects. And of course their number shall increase.
Other than Trudvar's security team, the girls will be under the management of Elishka. Elishka is a professional at this business no matter how much she hated to return to it herself. Actually, she was like a magician in this business, I would never have reached that point without her help. She taught the girls everything from the lovemaking techniques to the etiquette with the guests and how to act and react. I was impressed, this was beyond my understanding most of the time. I had to spy on her lectures in the private room I booked for them in the inn to understand how this job went. It is very complicated and had many rules that I got a crazy headache juat putting it together.
Rather than that, Elishka made a ranking for the girls. 'Working Girls' who will fill take miscellaneous work as their main, and the bathing work only in the peak times. Normal 'Bathing Girls' who will be the usual bath wenches and the regular workforce. And finally, girls like she once used to to be, the 'Queen Bees', the most expensive girls in the bathhouse and those will be considered the premium girls because of their outstanding looks and talent in lovemaking. According to her, we have six of those which is a very high number.
Elishka also sent a message to her friend Zena in Solitude to invite her here. Zena had a few complications in her life as she is a fugitive from Hammerfell, and Winterhold will be safer for her than Solitude. I also would love to have that girl here, she is only one that can go against me in one on one with that infinite stamina of hers.
As my previous promise stated to the girls, those who will show talent in learning how to read, write, and calculate, more than that, the girls who will show a magic talent will be considered as the pioneers in our business plan and get to be the force behind the future projects.
This will be all there is to it. I made a ledger and taught Elishka the paperwork details and how to write reports. Also, one of the 'Queen Bees' a Nord girl called Siv will be her secretary.
They set the services on a high price so just not anyone can get the service of a 'Queen Bee'. They also rained me with questions about how much money a regular student would carry.
I myself am not that optimistic. I made my wealth after years of hard work and gaining a nickname like 'Catatoskr' with its bloody 'Hello Kitty' tattoo. I don't think any student shall be as wealthy as I. Also mages are not that good in terms of body strength and stamina, a 'Queen Bee' can turn a poor mage into a dried corpse between her legs.
I made a big journal for all the important details of the bathhouse and put it away.
Next is my ship, the 'Alexandria'. One can't just start imagining how awesome it is to have that small ship coming and going between the docks in Skyrim as most of the stuff I wanted was the prioritized goods this ship transports. Nurina also made full use of the ship as well as my friends in the 'Creation Club'. Now Ongeim was the Vice Captain and made every trip on his own. He took few boys from Winterhold as trainees and his name became known in town as one of my henchmen.
The last piece of business was the General Goods Store.
Birna and her brother Ranmir ran the store. They were NPCs from the game and I know some of their lore. Birna was a grumpy girl in the game as most of her business was nothing but oddments and her brother was a depressed drunkard due to some tragedy.
This seemed not to have happened yet as both of them were energetic and offered to do business with me. They wanted to make food and vegetables trading partnership as my ship will provide then with the goods.
I think I need one more ship now.
All in all, in this past month, I made Winterhold work like nothing before, money started going around the town as business increased and life signs appeared after many years in town.
Of course it wasn't all easy and sparkling. I was faced some opposition with some of the local folk. Some folk were on the same old creed of 'Mages can't be trusted' and started going around saying all sort of shit about me. I really didn't want this to happen and I am not foolish enough to act as these small words won't harm me. After all a butterfly wing can cause a storm, and for an Egyptian who witnessed the political events between 2011 and 2013, I would never do the mistake ot letting rumors go around freely.
The one who reacted to that first were my sailors and Captain Geldof's. In their eyes, I made a strong image so they stood up for me. Same goes for those whose works were associated with me.
Basically, every young person who was tired of the way things were and couldn't leave the town were on my side. Old folk however were stubborn as usual. The confrontations were in the first week but I made a rumor about me moving from the college to live in town after I build a house. This made me get closer to many people.
The second opposition was more expected than the first, it was my friend Mjoll.
Mjoll caught wind about me being the main partner in the Bathhouse business and almost made a scene about it.
She accused me making the girls sell their bodies for money and she was disappointed and all that hero nonsense.
I can't actually imagine how simple can the world work into her head. I knew this would happen so I prepared the right girls for the job. Elishka and the 'Queen Bees' went into a big argument with Mjoll that made her tiny brain run short on circuits.
Anyway, she accepted it as the only way to put the homeless girls into a safe place and keep them away from the streets.
She also started her own vigilante thing that she would have done if she was taken to Riften, but this time it was in the right place for the right people.
Lastly, The Jarl! He showed no signs of stopping me and I was feeling good about it. However, the guards wanted to harass the workers few times but were not even supported by the Jarl when the time of arguments came.
The Jarl was doing his tyrannical actions away from my side of town. Actually, the amount of land I bought was indeed large and he kept his men out of it according to my 'Programming'.
One piece of report that I received and pleased me greatly was the news of Malur Seloth being sighted in the inn crying.
I actually felt bad but it is for the good of Winterhold to keep evildoers like him busy.
Anyway... Fightu!
I don't know what you experienced but be a man and take it.
Hehehe!
Sigh!
This was the current state of affairs in Winterhold. I must admit that I wasn't expecting this much development but it was going well. The people wanted better lives and I was providing that.
The news in the College of me becoming a Thane went like wildfire. Even Nurina herself wasn't thinking highly of my plan and took some time to realize what I did.
However, she went writing messages for god knows who and made some arrangements with her friends in the College. When I asked about what was going on, I was told not to pry in these matters and continue my role in the town steadily.
I however pried and it appeared to be that some undercurrents in the College chose to move with me and support me in secrecy. Most of the names belonged to the ranks of Wizard and Master-Wizard. I don't know what is going on but it's beyond me even if I knew.
The other thing I had to deal with were the people who wanted to invest in my business. I turned them all down including the 'Thieves Guild'.
I am not in any mood to deal with many partners who may cause me a long term headache.
What else? Ah! The house.
I am making my own house!
Don't talk about Hearthfire DLC or anything out there. I was having my own imagination running left and right to find the right pick.
In the game, I used Breezehome as my main base and never changed it even once. In my opinion, Whiterun was the greatest town ever. I always modded it with the best mods around like 'Breezehome TNF Elianora's Flavor' or ' Breezehome Fully Upgradable'.
But now I have no ability to fast travel like the game so my home base will be here in Winterhold. I may acquire some homes around the holds but this place will be mine.
The home I am building here however will be the place I chose and where I will keep my personal items and everything. It will be my safe haven so I was not sure if I should make it a castle style or a normal Nordic house style.
The piece of land I chose was across the street from the bathhouse to its east. To its west was a mountain, while the College and the slope that led to the sea were to the north.
The land was vast so I can basically build whatever I want.
After pondering for a long while I decided to build a medium sized estate and surround it with a big wall and a beautify it a bit.
My inspiration came from a mod called 'Elysium Estate', it gave the player a really gorgeous estate outside Whiterun and it had everything one can ask for.
It was very simple. A Nordic wooden house with all its decoration from the outside and the inside.
From the inside and beyond the main door one will see a kitchen on the left and a dinning room in the right, nothing is closed by any walls and I won't change a thing here.
Advancing past the first room, one will arrive to a short hallway between two rooms. On the left is the master bedroom which will have a fire place, shelves, a king sized bed, and its personal door out of the house but I'll not be including it. What I will not also include will be the stone bath tub and I will transform it into a modern bathroom.
The room opposite to the main bedroom will be another room for whatever purpose I may find for it. I will not include the small follower bed room from the mod and will just merge it with the big room. The room also have a stone bathtub but I will transform it into a modern bathroom too and will isolate it from the room, opening it to the dinning room.
Back to the hallway, there will be wooden stairs that will lead to the loft. It will be used as any other loft.
Passing the hallway will bring us to the last room who was somehow a small living room around a fire place with some decorations. It will have its own door outside the house and I am not changing things here.
In the living room there is a door that leads to the stairs of the basement but I will remove that and replace it with a secret trapdoor.
The basement in the mod is the place that have all crafting stations and all that as well as a store room.
I don't need any of that. I will transform the basement completely my way.
The central room will have to six doors. The first is the secret door that directly will lead to the house from the living room. The second will lead to the private stone king sized bathtub in the right. The third will be the vault which will be fortified with every fortification I know of and will be in the front where the forge was. The fourth will lead to a very spacious training room for me and my experiments. The fifth will be a large secret trapdoor that leads outside the house and will be used to smuggle things secretly in and out of the basement. The sixth will be a secret passage underground that will lead across the street to the bathhouse's basement.
This was pretty much all there is to it inside the house.
The outside will have a tower to the north of the house that I have plans for, a small sized house for my housecarl, and a guesthouse. All of this will be surrounded with a big wall.
[A/N: You can just go watch the Elysium Estate on the Nexus if you don't like my poor housing description. I really explained it to the best if my ability.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beside the crazy amount of business affairs, my research turned into a maddened direction too that past month.
I was preparing for the Rank Up Exam for Evokers next month.
I researched Magic besides the physical change that happened to me.
I focused on learning more spells this time, I didn't want to run away from pirates like I did last time. I want to face them like one of those Overpowered Main Characters and send them to Oblivion then stand on a mountain of their corpses.
Or not really! I just want to be too scary to be messed with.
I didn't focus on Mysticism or Alteration the past month at all. I only kept practicing Conjuration, Destruction and some Illusion and Restoration.
In Conjuration I made most of the development, I learned the 'Bound Shield' and now can actually summon a shield. Nurina said it's a useless spell but I think it will be handy some day.
Also I can now conjure a 'Mistman', an undead black skeleton that looks like the 'Boneman' except it is a floating half skeleton and it casts Frost Magic. This will be really useful against warriors.
I also learned how to conjure a 'Storm Atronach' in its normal form. It actually is pretty strong Atronach that is made of floating stones upon each other and casts powerful Lightning Magic.
The completely new summon that I learned lately was the Dremora summon. And it's a pain in the ass. I don't know to what extent can these creatures be so haughty.
First time I conjured it, it broke itself free from my bounding and attacked me. At first I didn't want to kill him but he was cursing at me the more I hit him, 'Release me mortal' or 'bow before me mortal'.
I was so enraged that I accidentally killed him but Daedra get recreated so I'll get a chance to beat him into sense later.
Anyway, after a long time of beating the damn things up, I finally summoned one that obeyed me without making me lose it.
Conjuring Dremora is not illegal but highly advised to be practiced under full guard.
Conjurable Dremora are ranked to seven ranks depending on their own social system, I can summon the first rank which is called Dremora Churl and that is considered the common rappel among the Dremora clans. Still it was a development.
I can summon both Warrior and Archer Dremora Churls now.
They have a pitch black skin with crimson markings on their bodies and they have horns, pointy ears and scary eyes. They are dressed in a black sinister looking armor and are not really something to think highly of unlike the Dremora Warlocks and Dremora Lords.
Dremora are this world's concept of Demons but they don't have wings or tails.
They have a human level intelligence and despise mortals to the extreme.
No one really bothers with their real names though! They are just a bunch of bastards.
I wanted to learn summoning different kinds of Daedra like Scamps but Nurina said that their smell is hellish so I avoided the idea.
The destruction school had a different kind of development. I only learned two spells.
Flame Cloak which is not really interesting but it damages anyone around me with fire damage, I learned it only for the sake of research.
The next spell was important. So important that Faralda herself showed interest in it. It was a fist attack spell made by the 'Augmentation' technique and 'Lightning' aspect. You can imagine it as a 'Lightning Fist' attack but as it makes an explosion when it hits the target it was called 'Thunder Cookie'. ° ͜ʖ ͡ -
What was interesting about it was that it needed no casting. One only should evoke it then it will cover the fist and attack with the contact against the target.
From the Destruction to the Illusion, I completed the 'Aura of Madness' spell and made a vision spell called 'Far Vision' which can make me see for a fairly long distance.
I didn't have any development with the 'Aura' itself when I looked it up. These people from Dawnstar were indeed monsters.
Finally in the Restoration, I only focused in completing the 'Absorb and Supply Vitality' spells. Which takes us to the next subject. I had to research the development of my physical strength too, but I was not an expert in that part at all.
I took the matter to Nurina who assured me that my body has nothing strange but also was in wonder of how much my strength has increased.
The only people that may actually have an idea are the Restoration School experts. Those people researched all there is to research about Vitality and were knowledgeable about mortal bodies as well.
Nurina however rejected the idea of getting help from any of them. She didn't like Colette Marence the head of the Restoration Department.
"That will leave us to only one person I can think of." I said.
"Who?" Nurina asked.
"The Augur!"
"If the College found out you talked to the Augur with no permission, Savos won't leave you alone. Not just that, you will have to venture into the midden alone which is a very unpredictable place. And supposedly you found the Augur, there is a tiny chance he may bother about you."
"Tell me something I don't know!"
"Don't take Jullanar with you! The entrance to the midden is marked here."
Nurina drew a map on a paper hastily and marked the location for me. I actually knew of it.
It was the same place from the game. Just at the end of the western corridor under a trapdoor.
"Fine! I'll go tonight!"
I hope he gets interested in what I will offer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jon's Spells"
#Mysticism:
.
-Magicka Outer Control:
Channel
Absorb/Supply
Dispel - Drain
-Detection: (Energy, Matter)
Scan
Pinpoint
-Force: (telekinesis)
Grip
Force Bullet
Featherfall
-Soul:
Scorch
Trap
-Necromancy:
Reanimate
Supply Undead
-Divination:
Alarm
Clairvoyance
-Time:
Accelerate
-Inner Magicka Control:
Soulfire
************************************
#Alteration:
.
-Matter:
Burden - Feather
-Object:
Stoneskin - Flameskin
-Light: (moved to alteration)
Candlelight
-Sound: (moved to alteration)
Muffle
Create
Throw Voice
-Combination:
Flashbang
************************************
#Conjuration:
.
-Control Summon:
Command - Banish
Bound - Unbound
Supply Daedra
-Bound Weapon:
Sword
Dagger
Battleaxe
Bow
Spear
-Bound Armor: (NEW!)
Shield (NEW!)
-Conjure Familiar:
Mouse, Cat, Falcon, Owl, Wolf
-Conjure Undead:
Ghost
Boneman
Mistman (NEW!)
-Conjure Atronach:
Flame: Normal - Horse
Frost: Normal - Utility
Storm: Normal (NEW!)
-Conjure Dremora: (NEW!)
Fighter: Churl (NEW!)
Archer: Churl (NEW!)
************************************
#Destruction:
.
-Flame:
Flames
Fire Bolt - Fire Rune
Fireball
Fire Cloak (NEW!)
-Shock:
Sparks
Lightning Bolt - Lightning Rune
Chain Lightning - Lightning Cloak
Thunder Cookie (NEW!)
************************************
#Illusion:
.
-Mind:
Courage - Fury
Calm - Fear
Paralyze
Aura of Madness (NEW!)
-Will:
Insinuate
-Vision:
Night Vision
Far Vision (NEW!)
Blindness
************************************
#Restoration:
.
-Vitality:
Healing
Drain Vitality
Absorb Vitality (NEW!)
Supply Vitality (NEW!)
-Ward:
Steadfast Ward
Reflection Ward
Quadrant Ward
-Sun:
Sunrays
Sun Fire - Sun Rune
Holy Smite - Paladin's Aura
________________________
#Special Powers:
-Racial:
-War Cry (Buff Allies, Scare Foes)
-Standing Stone: (Shadow Stone)
Hide in Shadows (Sneak Buff)
Blur (Combat Speed buff)
-Blood Lineage:
Resis Fire
___________________________________
#Thu'um:
-Unrelenting Force:
Fus: Force
Ro: Balance
Dah: Push