Back at his store Ben spun up a tale of how the new display cases kept the food cool with a rare ice magic enchantment. He told his employees he had them shipped from his homeland and they had finally arrived not long after the store had closed yesterday.
Ben and his employees had another busy day and sold even more food. The addition of the new farms and the Bakery had almost doubled the selection of food products for sale.
The vegetable section was selling just as many of the Earth vegetables now as the Victus Vegetables. People were unsure of the strange unrecognizable Earth vegetables when he first began displaying them in the market. Over time the people would by small amounts of them too curiously test out and now they were just as popular as the Victus vegetables.
Everyone came to know that any of the foods that Ben sold were delicious and beneficial. No matter what you bought you would not regret it. This was exactly what Ben wanted, he strived to make his store known for affordable quality.
At the end of the workday, the girls placed their cash register money trays in Baynard's office. Ben told Baynard to just place the money from today's sales in his side desk drawer when he had finished the books and to lock the door and metal shutter behind him. Ben was eager to see his new property so he left Baynard on his own and walked over to the gated noble district.
With the way, he was dressed and wearing his gold Duke badge and ring he had no problem passing the palace guards at the gate to the noble district and was fairly sure they recognized him by the way they acted.
Following the directions which were given by the Land Management Office, Ben soon found the vacant property. The vegetation was overgrown and the gardens had become so choked with bushes and weeds it made it difficult to visualize how the property may have once looked.
Ben walked the perimeter of the property as was surprised by its size. There was almost twice the amount of land he had purchased for his farm outside the city walls.
He had the system mark out the property border on his map and figure out how much land there was. From Athena's calculations, there were 9.73 acres which were laid out in a rectangular shape bordering the road.
There were other noble properties bordering his land but the trees and vegetation provided natural walls. It was different from the small lots that the commoners lived on. He began to feel like he had returned to the frontier because he couldn't see any of his neighbor's homes as he explored his land.
In the center of his property, Ben found a large stone foundation left over from where the large mansion stood before the fire. There was a horseshoe driveway designed to make it easy for carts to drive up to the main entrance and head back out to the road without needing to turn around.
'This property looks like a field that you would see out in the wilderness. Before I start anything I should clean up the property so I have a better lay at the land. I want to see what I am working with here before I begin to build at all.'
Standing in front of the crumbling stone foundation the sound of birds and busy insects could be heard all around. Ben was subconsciously enjoying the gentle breeze as the sky turned bright orange with the setting of the sun above him.
He was currently browsing through the Build Menu until he came upon the section he was looking for labeled [Landscape and Decorations]. This section allowed him to make parks, gardens, garden ponds, stationary statues, and fountains.
Ben noticed this section as he built at the fortress and his store, but up until now, he had not been able to make use of it. He was always more concerned with building structures that would make him money or improve his follower's lives. There was never any additional money that could be put towards beautifying the area.
He thought of leaving scattered areas around the interior of the fort that could be later made into parks and gardens. Once he had most of the buildings and streets built. It would then that Ben planned to add trees, grass, and decorations.
Now that he had this property Ben found a reason to finally use this section. He had remembered whenever he had built a road that the vegetation, rocks, or even large trees would be stripped away by the blue mist that formed where the road was placed.
If the road and building structures were able to clear the land Ben assumed the parks and gardens should have the same effect.
'For now I will cover the property with grass and after everything is built I can add the details. I can only recall a couple types of grass from when I was still back on Earth so I probably should do a quick look through the custom build interface.'
Ben did a glancing search of a few popular grass types and chose the Kentucky bluegrass. The deep green plush look of it caught his eye right away and it would make great looking lawns he thought.
The road that his property bordered was quiet and unlike the busy streets around his store and the surrounding properties were so large that he could only partially see the roofs of his neighbor's mansions off in the distance from his location.
Ben walked out to the empty road and glanced around before deciding to begin the transformation of this estate. While he stood on the road Ben marked the entire nine and a half acres to be covered with only Kentucky bluegrass while using the [Parks] custom build interface.
This parks menu also allowed him to make rock formations, lakes, forests, and even alter the height of the land, but for now, he chose to make the land flat and entirely covered with grass.
Ben could see that the entire property was now covered in a layer of blue mist which was dissolving everything which was above ground level with the last light of the day.
When the grass was finished being rapidly grown from seeds to three-inch-long blades the sky had already grown dark. Ben activated his [Night Vision] skill and could see that the entire property was now clear of undergrowth. The flat land was covered in a carpet of thick emerald green grass and was ready to now be brought back to life.
'Before I do anything I want to build the main structure. The landscaping or any outlying building can then be built around it.'
Instead of spending hours on designing a custom building that he would hardly ever use, Ben went to the [Housing] section and read through the currently available options.
This was the same section he used to build the homes where his followers resided. The housing started with a simple one-room wooden shack and gradually offered bigger and better homes as you went down the list.
Ben even found his three-story stone keep was on the list and the home right after it made him stop and consider using it. This home was a courtyard villa and from the description, it seemed to be a fully furnished decent sized building.
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[Courtyard Villa]:
[Ten Bedrooms]: King size canopy bed, huge walk-in closets, nightstands, dressers, area rugs, vanity.
[Three Bathrooms]: flushing toilet, hot/cold running sink, bathtub, shower, mirror, towel closet
[Large Kitchen]: trash disposal unit, two electric stove-top ovens, two electric grills, four hot/cold running sinks, four electric fridges, cabinets
[Living Room]: sectional sofas, end tables, coffee tables, bookshelves, six reading chairs, two desks w/two chairs,
[Dining Room]: a huge dining table, twenty dining chairs, four hutches, huge area rugs
[Study]: Bookshelves filled with books, four desks, four desk chairs, six reading chairs
[Laundry Room]: electric washer machine, electric dryer, linen closet
[Six Servant Quarters]: double beds, nightstands, lamps, closets
[Large Central Garden Courtyard]: small fish ponds, trees, flower gardens, paved walkways, exotic plants. A small oasis that awaits its owner just outside the surrounding structures.
This is a huge roman marble courtyard villa. It has room for a large family and servants.
Complete with electric baseboard heating and central air conditioning.
[Locked until: waste management-power plant-water treatment-marble quarry-glass maker] [Requires: wood-stone-glass-marble] [Locked until: built marble quarry- management-power plant-water treatment-glass maker- trash incinerator]
[costs: 1000g]
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This villa was capable of housing sixteen people with ten bedrooms and six servants quarters. The description claimed it was a Roman marble courtyard and that gave him an idea of how big it was. The villa could hold a large number of people for social gatherings, but with only sixteen bedrooms it was designed more toward housing a large noble family and their servants.
Ben wanted to build a place big enough to house anyone he recruited from the guilds to work at his store along with any future businesses. Also, if any of his employees who were subjects of the Aregard Kingdom found they had nowhere to stay they could live there.
If I were to open several other businesses in the city I will need a place to house my recruited employees. The next step up in available homes seems like it will do be more than enough, I just have a feeling it is going to draw too much attention.
Sighing Ben chose the next option on the list. He had made it clear with the king it was alright for him to build in any style he wanted on this land he just hoped he remembered that agreement when this place was seen in the light of the next day.
The next option on the list was a [Small Palace] and by what he read of the description it may end up outshining the king's current palace.
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[Small Palace]:
A magnificent three-story building adorned with ornamented architecture and stained glass windows.
[Fifty Bedroom Suites]: Huge custom canopy bed, living room, modern bathroom, walk-in closet, luxurious drapes and rugs, elegant furnishing.
[Twenty Servants Quarters]: king size bed, carved nightstands, and dresser, walk-in closet
[Two Large Staterooms]: Two large grand rooms which are used for formal occasions.
[Two Large Drawing Rooms]: Fancy draperies, luxurious sofas and chairs, ornate carved billiards table, crystal chandeliers, woven area rugs, opulent wood-paneled walls, carved tables, and end tables. These two rooms are used for socializing and entertaining guests.
[Palace Dining Hall]: A sophisticated wood interior with ornate crystal chandeliers. An enormous elegant dining table with plush upholstered chairs that seats one hundred people comfortably.
[Servants Dining Room]: A fancy dining room that can seat thirty servants comfortably.
[Huge Modern Kitchen]: Walk-in freezer, walk-in refrigerator cooler, electric grill, ten electric stove top burners, four large electric ovens, smoke room, indoor cooking fire pit, commercial conveyor dishwasher, trash disposal.
[Fifteen Separate Modern Bathrooms]: flushing toilets, hot/cold running sinks, full wall mirror, large air jetted tub, massage shower, sauna.
[Ten Offices]: elegant hand-carved desk, ornate wood file cabinets, woven area rugs, luxurious leather upholstered chairs, decoratively carved wood bookcase.
[requires: wood-stone-steel-glass-marble-cotton-leather-wool-copper] [Costs: 5000g]
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'The only problem with this small palace is I will need to hire on more people just to run this place so that my other employees will have a place to live. Funny, I need to hire people to take care of the people that I will hire in the future. Oh well, I am a Duke now and it won't be long before I am an Archduke so I guess it is time to start playing the part. Who knows, it might even be fun to throw a couple fancy parties and get to know the nobles of the city.'
Ben thought as he found the center of the property and began construction of the Small Palace one hundred yards away from the road.
When he saw the blue mist begin to eventually form out the shape of the small palace he could only shake his head and sigh out loud again.
"In what way is this a small palace, this thing is huge! This small palace makes the white house look like a summer cottage! Well so much for trying to stay under the radar and remain somewhat low-key. I just hope the king doesn't ask how I built this huge place so quickly and to make one for him as well."
Unlike the small workshops that he often built this small palace was huge and took some time for the building and interior furnishing to be created.
Ben made good use of his time by picking out a decorative black wrought iron fence like the ones often seen around large mansions in the old movies back on Earth.
While the fence was being built Ben began to make landscaping beds along the fence that contained many of the colorful plants and flowers native to planet Victus. The beds and landscaping were done in the style used in front of most homes on Earth which was still not a technique used on this planet.
When Ben had walked through the Goldcrest Royal Palace garden there were groups of flowers only planted together in patches into the flat soil. Ben was making raised beds that elevated the plants off the ground about a foot giving them a clean showcased appearance.
The section of his fence that ran parallel with the road was also designed with two large wrought iron gates that opened up to an interlocking stone paved horseshoe driveway that mimicked the original driveway but on a grander scale.