Zol was waiting for me when I exited father's office. "Elder Hirom, I'll lead you to your carriage." He spoke as he motioned for me to follow him. I paused for a moment after hearing the address that I had worked a lifetime for.
I let the moment pass.
"Grand Elder Yarim said that you would fill me in on my acquisition of elder status." I said to Zol and he nodded.
"Yes, Elder Hirom. I'll inform you in the carriage."
I nodded my acceptance. It was getting late in the day, best to talk while moving.
Outside the treasury, the same carriage I had arrived in was waiting for us. However, there was a young man standing in front of it.
"Elder Hirom, this is Arlo one of your new servants. He'll be in charge of your carriage and razor wind horses." Zol informed me while motioning to the young man.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Arlo, take us back to Elder Hirom's current residence." Zol instructed Arlo as he held the carriage door open for me.
I seated myself in the carriage and waited for Zol to take a seat before I questioned him.
"One of my new servants?" I asked.
"There was a new clan law made three months ago that all elders must have at least ten servants, so they can properly perform their duties."
Three months ago, in the middle of my closed-door cultivation.
"The servants are all from father's household?" I asked.
"That's correct. Grand Elder Yarim sent two servant families for a total of nine servants while High Priestess Elissa contributed a female family of three to serve your inner household."
"I imagine this new rule is the reason I became an elder so quickly?"
"Yes, Grand Elder Yarim argued that if the clan was saddling the financial burden of servants onto a new Elder than the rewards for becoming an elder should be hastened. He proposed a new law that a house can register a member who's attempting to breakthrough to Divine Origin Realm, and a territory for this potential new immortal should be picked by the elder council within three months of registration."
I half smiled and looked out the carriage window at the passing scenery. This was a victory for my father. Money was the hold up on granting the statis of clan elder. The taxes on the territories not ruled by the great houses or the clan elders went into the elder council's finances.
In a single stroke my father had weakened the Elder Council and earned a little goodwill with the lesser houses, and all it took was a little internal pain.
The timing of this new ten servants law leads me to believe that it was targeted at my family by the rival houses. My love of privacy was well known, and clan law states that clan members can only officially separate from their parent's household once they've become an elder, so this new law that compelled my father to stuff ten sets of ears into my newly formed household seemed to be a convenient wedge to drive between my father and I.
Ploy or not, I wouldn't bother asking father about the details. This exchange in the Elder Council was a win for our house, and I largely didn't mind the twelve being placed within my household. I couldn't train the required ten in time, and I've long been aware of the hassles that come with my position as heir.
I'm also confident that my parents couldn't restrict my movements now that I was a Chosen.
"The new residence?" I asked Zol without looking away from the window.
"The White Oak Manor, High Priestess Elissa has renovated it." Zol answered.
I nodded, unsurprised. I had been offered that residence before, but it was too vast and out of the way for me then.
Now my needs are different.
I looked at Zol as the Carriage came to a halt. "Could you notify the heads of my servant families that I would like to see them at ten tomorrow?" I asked him. "Of course, Elder Hirom." Zol stated with a bow of his head.
I left the carriage and walked back to my current home as the sun set.
After entering the house, I went to the room I had designated as my small workshop. Our clan had always been good at enchanting items with Qi, and a good sum of the clan's wealth came from the selling of these items.
Enchanting was considered more of a female pursuit, but I was always looking for ways to expand my understanding of Qi, so I had tinkered with this craft.
I placed the entirety of the room's refining tools, materials, and manuscripts into my storage ring.
Next was my bedroom which held the rest of my collection of books, scrolls and journals. This collection was also placed within my storage ring.
With the sensitive items stowed away, I sat down and began to meditate. Circulating my Qi to begin the process of stabilizing it.
This process lasted until I sensed the arrival of the carriage the next morning.
I levitated off the floor and strove towards the front door, but a knock beat my arrival.
Opening the door, I saw young Arlo standing there looking nervous. "My Lord, your carriage is here." He stated then quickly bowed his head. I nodded and motioned for Arlo to lead the way.
There were three middle-aged individuals waiting for us at the carriage, two men and one woman.
"My Lord, these are the three heads of your servant families, my father Mateo, Mister Diego, and Missus Maya." Arlo informed while introducing each of the three in turn.
All three had tan skin and black hair.
Arlo's father was a large man with a bald head and full beard.
The man named Diego was a skinny man with thin well-trimmed hair and beard.
While Maya had an ample figure, face full of soft features, and her hair tied in a bun.
"We'll have our discussion in the carriage." I told the three of them before entering the carriage.
Diego was the first to follow me in, then Mateo and finally Maya.
Sometimes the order of things mattered. I was curious to see if this was one of those times.
"I would like each of you to tell me what roles you and your family members currently fill." I told them as the carriage started to move.
"My Lord, I've been overseeing the household's ledger. My son manages the storage rooms, and my wife manages the outer courtyard with the help of our daughter." Diego informed me.
"My Lord, my family manages the kitchen, stables, gates, and yards. The work in the kitchen is handled by my wife and daughter. My oldest son Arlo takes care of the stable while my youngest and I deal with the rest." Said Mateo.
"My Lord, I oversee the inner courtyards along with my two daughters." Said Maya.
I learned two things. The order the three entered the carriage did matter, and I needed more servants. Too many important jobs are being split amongst the three families. Especially Diego's family, I didn't like the idea of my household's ledger and storage being under the control of one servant family.
I needed to ask my father for more servants. The work of the Mateo and Maya families could be supplemented with homegrown servants, but the skills and trust needed to replace Deigo's son couldn't be found off the street. I needed at least one more dependable servant.
I had the three of them inform me about the current state of the household until the carriage arrived at White Oak Manor.
The manor was as I remembered. A large compound full white walled buildings with dark tile roofs.
It was when I entered the main hall that I saw something I didn't expect, a teleportation circle.
"High Priestess Elissa was the one who had it installed, My Lord." Diego informed me.
I felt weighed down as I looked at this teleportation circle which probably represented a decade's worth of my mother's savings.
"Is it linked yet?" I asked Diego.
"Yes, my lord. It's been linked to your father's household and your territory."
Hmm, my territory had a teleportation circle. It made me more curious about what kind of land my father had procured for me.
"Has my territory's hand-over report already been sent?"
"Yes, my lord. Would you like to see it now?"
"No, just have it on my desk by tomorrow morning, for now show me around."
I was led around the manor. Mother had done a good job furnishing the rooms, and nothing else in the house gave me pause.
My personal chambers consisted of a central room, a bedroom, an office, a room for cultivation, and a spare room that I've decided to use as my workshop.
I entered my office which was decorated like my fathers with two couches, a table, a desk, and two walls lined with bookcases. There was even a window in the back wall. The only real differences were the drapes and carpet were black while the bookcases, couches, table, and desk were all made from red wood.
Nothing lay on the table, so I began to dump onto it the books, scrolls, and journals from my storage ring.
There was no order to this dumping. One could pick a specific object from the storage ring, but if the number of similar items got too numerous then it was easier to sort by throwing all the items out of the ring and pick from the heap.
I had removed a third of the books in the ring when the table reached its compacity, so I began to sort these manuscripts into the bookcases. A few of the journals weren't placed in the bookcases but were instead laid on the desk.
These were my own writings which consisted of journals full of theories, some of my own recipes for enchanting artifacts, and modified Qi techniques. These books will be returned to my ring once I'm done.
I continued to dump and organize manuscripts until my storage no longer held any written works. The bookcases were only half full, inviting further procurement.
A sigh left my lips as I looked at my desk. Thirty journals lay atop it. Most of them were leather bound books consisting of only twenty or so pages. These books were the fruits of over eighty years of knowledge. These thirty books and my cultivation represented my life's work.
How useful would this knowledge be in the dark days to come?
With a flash my life's work returned to my storage ring.
I wouldn't organize my workshop today as I planned to increase its capabilities, so I went to the cultivation room to continue my attempts at stabilizing my Qi.