Astra PoV
My laughter filled the relatively empty building as Renna blushed, the red haired Duchess getting somewhat embarrassed for some reason as she asked if I minded renovating this building for her.
It was just so amusing to see the woman I had once viewed as the big bad Duchess who needed to be treated with caution stumbling over her own words a little as she asked if I could do something that I already did for fun anyways, and if I could do something that really took me no time at all.
After a few seconds of me laughing Renna finally got tired of me 'embarrassing' her as she reached forwards and pinched my waist, twisting slightly and making my laugh turn into a yelp as she silenced me, though I still was grinning as I threw my arms around her and hugged her closely.
"Renna, seriously, you're just giving me an excuse to have some more fun~! Building something that's gonna get used by someone else is quite a treat, especially if that thing is something that my sexy~ wife is going to pay for later as we christen one of the rooms for ourselves~!"
Winking at her, I couldn't help myself as I grabbed both of her cheeks and gave them a squeeze, my fingers sinking into their softness as I lifted Renna up a little before kissing her, making her moan slightly before she nipped my lip.
I set her down and let her go after giving her butt another nice squeeze, which earned me a crisp smack on my butt as Renna escaped from my grasp, though as she walked away I noticed that the sway in her hips was a bit too~ exaggerated to be her normal walk.
"I didn't want to seem like I was making a decision without your consent though, Astra. I don't want to step on your toes and then order you to do something you don't want..."
She peeked at me from over her shoulder before stepping away from me as I tried to grab her again, the Duchess making her way back to Christina and Duru as she added "But now that you've agreed to it, I am very relieved. This building was collecting dust and was something I was holding onto only because I knew I wanted to use it but wasn't sure how, and the location is quite good."
I nodded at that, dropping the horny for now and focusing on the work at hand as I asked "A nice, gated building with some land around it to keep it private... it used to be a house, right? Of some kind?", to which Renna replied "Of a kind, yes. A mercenary company used to operate here, and eventually they got older and too scarred to reliably get things done, so they sold the building and settled down."
"Took everything with them too, I guess? That was nice of them. First floor is spacious, two more floors upwards and even a basement... must've been a good mercenary company to afford this."
"They were. Everyone has bad luck eventually though, and no one can heal some of the things that happened out there, things that changed them physically and mentally. Anyways, yes, I want part of this floor and the two above to be turned into residential while the basement is organized for storage."
Looking around the open building, I nodded to myself before turning back to Renna as I prepared to ask her something, which she anticipated as she said "My talents will be better used outside, where I can clear away all of the weeds and other vegetation that we don't need. Christina and Duru will help me plot and plan it all out for future use while you work in here. Considering it only took you an hour or so for the guest house back at the compound, this should be done before we leave today, right?"
I chuckled at that, though I still nodded and replied "I guarantee it'll be done before we leave today, my Lady~!" with an exaggerated bow, something that made Renna roll her eyes before she waved goodbye and stepped outside.
Leaving me on my lonesome inside, I took a deep breath and turned back to the empty space as I tried to calculate what I would need, only to shrug and plop down some workbenches and get some of the things I knew I would need crafting, like beds, tables and chairs.
As for the walls, I walked around and started marking out where they would go, using some leftover wooden planks to create the idea in my mind as I plotted out rooms and got a feel for the space I was creating.
It was a simple rectangular building that was approximately 35 feet by 60 feet, and each floor was 10 feet tall, so it was a good sized building in total; not enormous by any means, and certainly not overly spacious, but certainly workable for what Renna wanted out of this.
So I needed to keep the building's dimensions in mind as I planned out what I wanted to do, and considering Renna wanted to have some of the slaves live down here on the first floor, I plotted out the rest of the building using the back half of this floor, going through a few different room styles before landing on the one that I thought worked rather well.
When that was done I finally went ahead and got to crafting the various walls that I needed, before looking at the building itself and sighing softly as I realized I should probably upgrade the rest of the building too, which meant better foundations and floorboards, though that wasn't as difficult as it would have been for someone to actually do themselves.
I just... inspected the floor and opened the crafting portion of my System, where the option to repair and improve the existing material appeared; selecting yes showed a progress bar with a timer before eventually it filled, and then voila, the floor was repaired in this specific section.
Going around and doing that on everything inside while I waited for the things I was crafting via those workbenches only took a few minutes for this first floor, and then I finished the skeleton of what I wanted a few minutes after that, revising some of my decisions and having Renna come back inside to take a look and give me approval to put everything down properly.