Harlan needed at least 3 people, though Redwall was fine with him hiring up to 7 of his people.

First on the list was a man in his late 70s named Garad, he had worked for Redwall for many years but entering a pseudo retirement of taking care of a much smaller place was what he wanted.

Much like Harlan he was a man who could never stop working, it had become a deeper part of him as a person.

Though if Harlan hired him then he would need to also bring with his wife.

“Hello, I see that you are good with finances and management. But why do you want to work for me instead?” Balor had been doing practice interviews with Harlan so he could speak in a more noble manner.

“It is written down already. I just don’t move the way I once did, I don’t want to spend the rest of my days running up and down these halls. A smaller place in the woods where I could work your books and make sure others did their jobs would be a nice slower pace.”

“Right, and you wife?”

“I won’t be leaving her here, she was a pastry chef before our daughter was born, it is important for a growing boy to have proper food. Though it would be best if she had someone younger who could also help her to carry heavy things like sacks of vegetables. Or large pots of soup. And to help light fires for the stoves.”

“Tell him not to patronize you and treat you like a child. Set a boundary for worker and master.”

“That all sounds good, but I ask that you do not treat me like a child. I will be your boss. Making fires will not be necessary. I intend to make stoves that can just channel fire mana and heat themselves like that. This will be done with souls.”

The old man had no reaction.

“Great, you didn’t flinch at all. I don’t see any reason not to hire you and your wife. But does the baron have a replacement ready? You seemed to be in charge of quite a bit.”

“That is another part of why I wish to leave. I have had an understudy for nearly a decade. She is finally ready to take over where I am leaving off.”

“Well then, everything seems fine. I hereby hire you, and you will be my manager of estate. In 1 weeks time I should have the land ready for you and your wife to move in.”

“I do hope we work well together and things are quiet.”

“As do I, now, I would also like you to stay here while I interview the others.”

“Yes, Sir Fomoria.”

2nd was a woman, she had barely worked at the mansion for 2 months. Clearly it was just someone who the baron had no attachment to. No family, 20 years old, nothing to indicate that she was anything but what she seemed to be. Though it was noted that she was a gossiper.

“Can you tell me why you would want to work for me?”

“I think you are going to be huge, you are going to rise up the ranks of nobility and I want to be along for the ride.” She had an infectiously bubbly and joyful personality. But Harlan thought she seemed like she wasn’t really there.

“I won’t actually, I am not a normal noble. I am closer to a craftsman with rank. But I am sure that I can grow my lands anyway. I see you don’t have any family, and I don’t see a place of birth on your records. Why is that?”

“I must’ve just forgotten to fill that out. I am actually from a village slightly north from here called Yor. And I never had a family. I was raised an orphan, I don’t know who my parents were or are.”

“Right. But now how does my own lack of ambitions towards becoming a higher ranked noble affect your own desire to work for me.”

“I have heard stories. I don’t think you can avoid ambition if you wanted to. Look at how you have already changed things.”

“It is bad manners to assume things about your patron, Miss Sara.”

“Yes, I am sorry Mr.Garad. I had heard that Sir Formoria was quite casual with others.”

She sat up straighter. Harlan was a little put off by how she acted, she seemed to want the job just because she expected it to be some kind of exciting adventure.

“Now, what have you heard then? About me. This is the second time you have mentioned hearing about me. I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea and get bored of working for me.”

“Well, I heard you make toys for maids, you are really strong, and you beat up and captured 10 theives all on your own.”

“I think you should be mindful of what rumors you hear little miss.” Balor spoke to test her reaction.

Her eyes lit up, but Harlan and his brothers agreed it was in a childish way, and not some flames of greed.

“Well, those are all kinda true. I made 1 toy for a maid, and that is only because she was terrified of me and I wanted her to calm down. I am stronger than a normal person, but I am not going to be crushing rocks with my hands or anything. Lastly it was 5 of them and my defenses had them captured before I even knew they were climbing a wall.”

“That is so cool!”

Harlan could tell that everything he said was in one ear and out the other. She was a bit of an airhead, but she didn’t seem suspicious. Just wanted somewhere neat to be.

“Alright, you are hired, just don’t disappoint me and don’t start problems with gossip, when I am working on something it is always a secret unless I say otherwise. Now, please sit in on the other interviews.”

The next 4 people had some issue or another. One of the women just seemed to hate Sara and asked that she be hired instead but wouldn’t explain why. One of them was a young man who would be doing finance but since he already hired Garad he just wasn’t needed. The next 2 were male servants that couldn’t take their eyes off of Sara’s bosom. Harlan didn’t want any drama to arise from that.

Finally it was Isha’s turn.

She was clearly nervous and blushed slightly as she sat ramrod straight in her seat. Harlan couldn’t understand it.

“Do you have a fever? You look very red.”

Sara just barely held in a giggle. Garad was less than impressed, a glare made her sit straight faced.

“Ah, no I am just fine. I didn’t expect to be called for this though.”

“I asked for you to be added.”

She got even redder.

“Can someone explain? Do you need a doctor?”

Garad spoke.

“I believe this is a conversation best said in private. But you do not need to worry about her. She will be fine.”

“Balor, do you know what this is about?”

“It is not my place to answer this, I have only read about such things. I don’t have hormones like a human does. I have not experienced such things.”

“Alright then. So would you like to work for me?”

“I have to take care of my mother, she has been sick for some time and I cannot afford to leave her here. She was a maid here before me so she is allowed to stay here while I work here.”

“Just take her along. you will have more free time to take care of her at my place. I just need you to help make food and keep my stuff clean.”

“Ah… I do suppose that would work. Though she can be… difficult, about your work. She doesn’t even let me bring that sheep you made near her.”

“Well, that is a shame. But that is alright. Maybe it is best that she sees that I am just a normal person. I can make her a room without any enchantments in it.”

“I am sure I can convince her to go then. Until then I will stay here.”

“You have a week. Then I plan to take you all out to my place. I hope you can convince her.”

And then Sara and Isha left the room. Harlan and Garad had a conversation about what young people go through before they become adults, and since Isha was only 14 she was simply misunderstanding his kindness for something else.

Harlan still only understood it in theory.

He was going to ask Autumn about it.

He found a maid who pointed him towards her, but she was resting, so he decided to ask Ava instead.

Like he knew something incredibly awkward was about to happen, Breken jumped in first.

“What can I do for you? Something bad?”

“What? No. I was just going to ask Ava some questions.”

“You are lit up like a torch to my sixth sense, whatever you are going to ask. Just run it by me first.”

“Breken! I am old enough to listen to whatever he has to say.”

“Go do sword swings. Harlan, follow me.”

And so he went to a nearby empty guest room.

“Alright, shoot.”

“One of the people I was interviewing got all red and weird when I was talking to her.”

“How old was she?”

“14”

“Alright. So never talk about this to Ava. you will figure it out when you get older, no need to get into it now. All that means is that the girl must’ve liked you, or thought that you liked her. Talk about it with Autumn. And when you talk with the girl, remember, you might be her boss. Don’t try to force anything on her, even a question, I am sure you’ll be fine though.”

“Alright.”

“Good, now. Do you want to test yourself again? You have been slacking, I can tell.” Breken pinched his arm. Harlan couldn’t even resist the attack.

“Ouch. fine, I will train more, and what is your sixth sense like? You said I was like a torch. That doesn’t sound like sixth sense.”

“No matter how much you train, a sixth sense can only be honed when your life is on the line. Otherwise you hit a ceiling. You should get some fairly safe training at the academy if you do some soldier type classes.”

“Did you ever go to the academy for anything?”

“Yep. But I’m not telling what.”

Harlan went back to the training room.

Ava was still doing her sword swings.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“He isn’t telling. We came back for a spar and so I could tell him how to train himself more.”

Ava walked off of the sparring ring and sat in a chair to watch them.

“Lugh, can you do that shapeshifting thing whenever you want?”

“Yes!”

“Alright. Balor, can you direct him?”

“I will do my best, but only Lugh knows what he can do. We should’ve tested this at some point.”

“Ava. hit the bell when you are ready.”

The bell rang out as soon as Breken was done speaking.

Harlan rushed in, no longer being the second person to strike. Breken was happy to see him being a bit more confident. He was less happy when instead of a light strike to parry Lugh had pulled back his tip and split it into a dozen branches, some of which wrapped around Breken’s sword, he was stronger than Harlan but he was off balance by the sudden attack.

Breken smirked at him, and Balor immediately tried to call back Lugh. But it was too late. Breken kicked Harlan squarely in the chest, because of the hold on Lugh he felt the full force of it. Harlan collapsed on the ground, he was absolutely sure his ribs were cracked, he was having trouble breathing. He saw Ava rush to get the Redwall family doctor.

“It was a good trick, but I know you are a trickster, and I am a trickster too. You would’ve been better off just sending all of those spikes right at me to force a win. But I am sure you will get that kind of killer instinct some day. Oh the things you could get done with a blade like that.”

Harlan tried to answer back but his chest was on fire and all the air was knocked out of his lungs still.

He wasn’t upset, he even appreciated the advice. Breken then took off his shirt and started poking around on his chest to see how bad the damage was.

The doctor rushed into the room and immediately pushed Breken away.

“Kid only has 4 broken ribs, he is built pretty sturdy.”

Ava swung at him, and he allowed her to strike him.

Xol looked over his crystal ball and marked down notes on the boy, he knew exactly what a Fomorian should be able to do and the boy was doing well considering his nature.

What worried him were the readings from his soul, he could only write off some many oddities as flaws in his system caused by distance.

Yet she wanted who she wanted, he didn’t really have much place to change a deal already accepted.