Dropping stuff off at the clinic for Shizuka, I continued to survey the area that we had available to make a home. Wanting to have a central location so we could administrate effectively, the plot of land next to the clinic was selected. This would allow Shizuka, Yuko, and Sayo to be near future patients as well. The plan was to make a two story home with a lookout on a platform above the home.
"So this is where home is going to be?", Ilulu asked with excitement, "When do we start building, and...how do you build a home? My books didn't have instructions for that."
"Haha, it's going to take a lot of elbow grease.", I chuckled patting her on the head, "Don't worry though, building a house for us will be easy for me."
"Yay!!", she laughed as she waved her arms with excitement, "Can I help you?"
"Absolutely, I can use your help cutting down trees and setting the logs.", I told her.
"I can be of help!!", she shouted running around us, "I can be of help!!"
"Ahem...I assume that you are going to consult with the people living in this home on what the layout will be, and the finer details like carpets and such.", Yuriko stated with a serious look as she approached us.
"You do realize that we are in the middle of nowhere, right?", I reminded her, "It's not like I have a Lowes or Home Depot to go pick up supplies and décor."
"Yes, but I also think that my husband likely planned for this eventuality. You have the supplies to make this a luxury home, don't you?", she teased me, "He wouldn't let his wives freeze to death or not have a few luxuries, right?"
"I mean...I do have somethings which I have collected.", I said knowing where this was going, "Obviously I don't have everything that you would likely want."
"Every creature comfort you can put in the home will make things much easier for everyone in the household.", Namiyo told me acting like an innocent maiden, "Some of us are fragile maidens after all."
"Not me!!", Ilulu boasted, "I am very tough and strong!!"
"Ilulu, you want a very comfortable home right?", Saori asked.
Nodding her head, Ilulu agreed that is what she wanted.
"Then you have to play along with us to get that. If Victor has his way it will be like we are always camping.", Mikoto teased.
"I resent that!", I sighed, "It wouldn't be that bad."
Realizing that I wasn't going to make the house I wanted, I relented and said we could talk about it. Waiting for everyone in my group to gather in the clinic, I put down some paper to go over what I thought would work best. The basement would house a root cellar, a training area, and a comfortable bathroom. These places would stay about the same temperature year around thanks to being below the frost line. If everything worked out the rooms would stay a cool sixty-five degrees no matter how cold or hot it got outside.
The first floor would have a comfortable living room, dining room, kitchen, powder room, and armory. Out of all the rooms, the kitchen would be the place I would focus most of my attention on as it's the place we would spend quite a lot of time throughout the day. It needed to be spacious so that we could cook enough food for our family, and...well on the occasion we got a bit frisky in there. Drawing out the layout I wanted for our kitchen, the women were onboard for my plans. The other rooms on the first floor also received their blessings as well.
The second floor was our bedroom, the kids bedroom, and...a nursery for future additions. When it came to the nursery, Namiyo took the pencil and paper from me so they could draw up designs. Apparently they thought that I would make it too plain or something like that. Trying to protest them, I was told to get started on the areas they had approved first. Walking out of the room to get started, I sighed as Midna popped out of my shadow.
"What did you expect? Some of them have waited years for the opportunity to design a nursery. Look at it like this, it's going to take them hours to decide since all of them have the potential to have kids. They are all going to want to design some aspect of the room.", Midna pointed out.
"Yeah I know that, I just wish they'd understand that we are here to survive not make a million dollar home.", I sighed.
"Cut them some slack, they have been extremely tolerant of being coped up in a small Captain's Quarters for a while now. They want some of the comforts they had before.", she stated.
"Fair enough...", I replied, "Alright then, let's get too it."
Plotting out the dimensions of the home with stakes and string, I made sure the shape was perfectly square before starting to dig. Luckily for me I had a high stamina and strength stat so digging out the basement wasn't all that hard. Moving the dirt with a wheelbarrow, I dumped the dirt near the bridge so the troops could use it to make defenses. About two hours of hard digging was all it took for me to get the basement dug out, and the post holes dug for the support beams and pillars.
"So what are you going to do about pillars?", Midna asked flying around me.
"I got mountains around me, I am going to dig it out of the mountain.", I chuckled, "Martial arts have more than one use."
"You are are going to use stone to make support pillars?", she stated.
"I wasn't initially, but now that they are designing the upper room...I am afraid if I don't the house will come crashing down.", I laughed dryly, "Knowing them the initial plan we agreed on will change by the time I get back down from the mountain."
"You have little faith in your lovers?", she teased.
"No, I just know how they are. We will agree that a certain plan is good, then when I walk away it goes out the window. I figured they would do that so I am changing things up on them.", I snickered.
"Such a cruel husband!", she giggled, "You are going to be sleeping in the doghouse if you fuck this up."
"The hell I will, I am building this place with my literal hands. The only place I am sleeping is on my bed!!", I shouted, "I brought along an Alaskan King bed for this!! You know how it was to find one with memory foam!!"
"Haha!! You were planning this to that extent too?", she mocked, "Jeez the women around you didn't stand a chance!!"
"Laugh it up...", I sighed, "I wanted to be comfortable in style!"
Checking on the women to see how they were doing, I saw them debating something while pointing to places on the papers. Shaking my head with a sigh I went into the mountains using my HUD to look for decent stone to use for what I wanted, namely Granite and Marble due to the look they had. Finding a very nice vein of Granite in the mountain side, I started breaking the stone out of the wall of stone with martial arts. Using a high degree of control allowed me to ensure that the edges were butter smooth with little to no defects in the cut.
Hauling the mammoth sized stones down the mountain, the men looked at me like I was insane. It was so bad that even Kohta and Jeong looked at me in fear. The flipside of making my family a nice home was that the other women would expect a nice home from their men too. It honestly didn't bother me that I was putting pressure on them, but I would help Kohta and Jeong out if they so asked. They were my buddies so it was understood that I would help them.
"You are making the men here look like children!", Gerald laughed, "You have really manned up since we last met!"
"Looking good Victor.", his sister laughed.
"Nevermind, you are still a child.", Gerald stated defensively.
"Seriously...", I sighed sinking the support pillars into the ground, "You going to play me like that man?"
"You should be helping him.", she lectured Gerald, "You are one of his best friends."
"Listen, I am good with wrestling bears, protecting you, and drinking.", Gerald told her, "This is out of my control."
"So what you are saying is that you are planning to beg for his help when we need to build a home? Or are you suggesting we should stay in one of these worn out shelters?", she pressed him, "You know that I am a fragile lady."
"Fragile my hairy ass!!", he shouted, "I have seen you handle a full grown man in a fight!!"
Kicking him in the shin, she told him to keep his damn mouth shut. If he was going to coddle her he was going to do it right, or not at all. Apologizing to her, he said he would assist me as a strong man never asked for help for free. Asking me what he could to help, I pointed to a small pile of lumber nearby.
"Think you can make a bedframe?", I questioned.
"This is nothing to me!", he laughed with pride, "I was the best carpenter in our city!"
"Your Lincoln logs don't count.", his sister mocked.
"Shut up woman, men are working-"
Kicking him square in the nuts, Gerald passed out on the spot as he collapsed with a soft groan.
"Don't you ever tell me to shut up!!", she hissed kicking him a few more times, "I swear you are worse than our father sometimes!!"
'Jeez...yeah I don't want her in my harem.', I thought, 'I felt that one...'
"I apologize Victor, he will come assist you when he wakes up.", her friend said dragging him away, "Once you are done, we could use some assistance making a home of our own."
"No problem.", I told them, 'If it was winter and his junk was frozen...he wouldn't ever be having kids after that kick.'
Putting that to the side for now, I leveled the support pillars, and then started chiseling interlocking ends on the stone beams. This would ensure that the stone wouldn't shift too much during the cold winters and warm summers. Laying them into place, I drop metal spikes into the stone to anchor them into place. By now the women were done with their debating, and had come up with their own design. Presenting it to me I gave them a sigh.
"I am not building this.", I told them, "Some of these proportions aren't possible given the materials we have here."
"We just spent several hours debating this!!", Saya snapped.
"I tell you what, I will build it the way I intended and you decorate it with furniture and paint.", I suggested, "I feel that is a fair trade, and that is something all of you can do without my assistance."
"Deal!", Yuriko said, "You have no say in the décor."
"I have an Alaskan King Bed, that is the only piece that has to be in here.", I told her, "It's super comfortable and can fit all of us better than the old bed."
"That's works!", Yoko stated, "Comfortable sleep is always welcome."
"What's an Alaskan King Bed?", Pucca asked.
"It's an American thing, the bed is 9 feet by 9 feet in size.", Daiyu answered.
"Son of a bitch that is a big bed!!", Nina gulped, "Do you even have sheets that big?"
"Haha, yes I have sheets for it.", I chuckled.
"Hold on, doesn't the fact you have a bed that big mean you intended to have a large harem from the beginning?", Saeko teased.
"Hey you, it's nice to have an extra large bed.", I told her, "And I wanted to be ready for anything. If it was just you, I'd have been just fine. That said...it's better to have all of you here."
"Good answer.", Kikyo laughed.
"Anyways, how do you like this foundation?", I questioned.
Examining the site thus face, they were very happy with how it turned out. Telling them we would use pine floor, they were happy with that so long as the floors were smooth, solid, and didn't creak. Nothing was more annoying than having squeaky floors after all.
"Do you have insulation for this place?", Sayo asked.
"Haha, I have more than enough insulation.", I assured her, "Believe me, I don't want to wake up in a cold home. I have some single room heating/cooling units that will maintain the temperature in our home. They are low noise so we shouldn't have problems with attracting the Undead or Demons."
"On behalf of everyone, we appreciate the forethought in our comfort.", Rika told me, "What about heating?"
"I got an Instant Water Heater, this city had local natural gas so fuel is no issue.", I responded.
"Oh my, I can't wait to have a nice hot bath in our home.", Shizuka shouted.
Leaving me to my work, the women got back to the tasks they had to complete. Getting the stairs to the basement installed before laying the floor on the first level, I then got flooring installed in the basement. Getting plumbing lines sorted for the bathroom and laundry facilities, I put down a foot thick layer of gravel before laying quick setting concrete. The concrete would be set enough to walk on tomorrow morning so for the time being I would continue building up. Getting walls up on the first floor, I also installed a nice, large fireplace in the living room for those cold winter nights.
With the walls up, I framed the rooms framed out for all the equipment I had. Once that was done I got the exterior siding installed along with windows and the front and back doors. Ensuring everything had an airtight seal, insulated the wall cavities and continued onto the second floor. By this point it was already 10pm, but the sky was still bright.
---Two Days Later---
"I got to give you credit...you certainly can build a house...", Takashi said looking at the home, "It's just...jeez none of us have even gotten a new roof finished."
"You even have running water, electricity, and insulation...", Kohta stated, "You really have been thinking this through."
"Yep, don't worry I have plenty of insulation left over for people.", I chuckled, "Fortunately it packs really easily so I put plenty of it in the ship."
"You...you think you could give us a hand?", Jeong asked me.
"Once our homes are built up, we need to get busy on the greenhouses so we have plenty of food this winter.", I told the men, "Some of you will have more mouths to feed in late winter, so it's critical we get this done properly."
"Right!", the men said with determination.
"I got to say though...I never thought you'd have a kid before me.", Bob said to Souichiro, "You went from not liking her to being intimate pretty quick."
"A lot happened...", Souichiro laughed dryly.
Stepping inside to check on my family, everyone was busily painting. My hard work earned me a lot of praise from them, and I had been told to expect reward once they were done putting their touch on the place.
"You need anything from me before I help the boys out?", I asked.
"More paint please!!", Ilulu replied with painted handprints all over her.
"Did you have a paint fight?", I questioned.
"Let's say things got a bit out of control.", Renka laughed showing me the hand prints on her butt, "We had a heated discussion about the room color."
"I see...well here is the paint", I said putting the cans on the ground, "I will be back later."
Walking back out with my tool belt, I told the boys we'd get started immediately.
---Shetland Islands, Royal Summer Home---
Having made it to the island in one piece, George busy sourcing a plane to get off the island. He had received confirmation that the missiles his friend launched had helped the defenders suppress the enemy advance. It had been enough that M. Bison had retreated as the damage he could cause had become limited. The military had retreated to the upper part of Scotland, and were holding the enemy there. That said...the cost of the retreat was high as many civilians were abandoned as the military hurried to build a defensive wall.
'I can understand why the King wants them to stay away from the populace, his children have a mark on them in response.', George thought glancing back to his charges, 'The sooner we get to Victor's group, the sooner we can sleep a bit easier.'
Over the course of the last week several civilians with nothing left to lose had done suicide runs on the mansion. They had burnt part of the home to the ground, and had trashed other parts before he could fight them off. It was getting to the point where they couldn't sleep for fear they would be murdered in their sleep.
"George...have you been able to find a plane?", Gwen asked.
"Not yet...I am reach out to every contact I have to get one.", George told her.
"Are they that rare now?", she inquired.
"It...it is just difficult to find one that could take us there on a single tank of gas.", he lied, 'I can't tell them that the only planes that could take us there were lost in the retreat. They barely have a few prop planes let alone a jet. My black market contacts literally want two of the Princesses in exchange for a plane.'
"Would Victor know where we could get a plane?", Gwen pressed him.
"I don't think so.", George said.
"Could you ask?", she pleaded, "We only have a few days of food left..."
Sighing he agreed to her request, even if it was a long shot.