The baron slammed his fist into the table, his anger boiled. He pointed at the knight, "Tell me, how was he able to pay all of them, did he steal from me?"
"My Lord, I doubt that would be possible. Everything is handled by you and your accountants. Your son, the young master Raze, wouldn't be able to take anything from you without your notice.
Also, my Lord, if you try to force him out of there right now, whatever it is that they are building, the people seem invested in making sure they complete it. So the best option would be to wait for him to return to the manor," the knight said.
"What? So you are trying to tell me that the commoners would be mad if I went there myself to drag out my own son?" the baron asked.
"My Lord, a conflict is the last thing we want now, seeing the situation of the town. Forgive me for saying, but it would be better to allow it to be for now. As long as none of the resources that he uses come from you, then it won't affect us badly," the knight explained.
The baron took a deep, long breath. He tapped his finger on the table. "Fine, I'll allow it for now. He can have his little time and do whatever he wants, but the moment he steps into their manor, find him and bring him to me," he said, his eyes burning with anger.
"Yes, my Lord." The knight responded and left the office.
[....]
Back at the site, progress was made, and not just any progress—good progress. All the structural beams had been set in place and nailed properly.
From the looks of things, in only a few days they would be able to get it done. The sun was already going down, so the cold of night was coming, and Raze dismissed everyone, but not until they ate their fill.
They all left jolly and happy, talking to one another despite the fact that they had just put in a full day's work. Raze also allowed some of them to take bread home to their families.
When everyone was gone, he sat down on a piece of wood and stared out at the town, seeing flickering lights from lamps. It was quiet soon, and only insects made noise.
The men were too tired after a full day's work to even drink, so everyone went home.
Raze pulled out the book on flame magic and flipped open the page, ready to read.
"Young master, are you not going to go home?" Elaine asked.
"No, the moment I step into that manor, father will have hands on me and I'll be unable to do what I started.
There is nothing that a leader hates more than something massive happening without his control, and what I showed today is exactly that.
It doesn't really matter to him if it benefits the people or him, he'll act rashly, lock me up, and the bathhouse would become a forgotten memory in the town.
And for those reasons, I'll not return to the house until the bathhouse is complete. When a dream is completed, no one can deny it, not even him, and at that point, the people that worked with me will back me. If I go missing, they'll riot against father," Raze explained. He turned his head and looked at her.
"You should go get a room in one of the inns. You have been up for so long, you need the rest," he said.
"And leave you here alone, young master? Not possible, we'll go together," she said.
"No, I can't. If I leave here, there is a high tendency that the people who initially went to tell father of what I was doing will come to destroy it.
There is no greater enemy than those that lick the boots of your opponent. Right now, my father is my opponent, and those that lick his boots would fight tooth and nail to destroy what we have.
And they do that all for the very little validation that he might give them. They are shortsighted and selfish in a bad way," he said.
"Selfish in a bad way? Is there a good way?" she asked.
"Hehehe, yes there is," he said, showing her a sly smile. He pointed at the bathhouse. "I'm making this for a ton of selfish reasons. One, I really need a bathhouse. Two, I need a good reason for father to not send me away.
This town will become my domain, where I can read and put into practice all that I read," he said with an evil grin.
"Young master, I think evil is seeping out of you," she said.
He quickly adjusted his face. "Sorry about that," he said.
"So, all you want, master, is a place to practice all that you read?" she asked.
"Yup, studying is the way to gain knowledge, but recently I realized that practicing is the way to gain understanding, and I want to understand it all.
Every text, every working, how A relates to B, I want to know it all. It's a desire that can't be quenched, just the way I want to live my life," he said.
She looked at him, a soft, proud smile formed on her face.
"I'll stay here with you, master. It seems you want to read your book, go ahead," she said.
"Really? You will?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied and sat down beside him.
He nodded and opened the book and started reading. So far he had managed to learn how to use flame magic, but now he needed to learn how to cast proper spells.
But before that, he gathered some wood and lit it for a fire. The both of them sat around it.
The book explained that the first stage of making fire magic was finding the heat and mixing it with mana, but now he needed it to take shape.
And in this world, incantations or hand signs were used to make spells, but what the book said was different.