Knock knock
Raze's father sat inside his office, a piece of paper in his hands, his brows furrowed, and an intense stare in his eyes. It easily told that something was wrong.
He looked at the door, his face shifted into a pissed expression.
"Who is that?" he asked, his voice rough as if water hadn't touched his throat for a full day.
The door opened and a knight stood there, black hair, a sharp face, and rough stubble on his chin. He gave a bow.
"There is someone here to see you, sir. He is from the town," the knight said.
"Whatever they want I don't have. The barony is in dire times, I have nothing to speak to anyone about." The baron said in a dismissive tone.
"I believe you'll have interest in this, sir. It has something to do with your last son, Raze Grimhold," the knight said, and that immediately caught the attention of the baron. He looked up.
"Let him in," he said.
The knight bowed and brought in a man. He was tall, lanky, with very scattered hair and red eyes that looked like blood. He walked in like someone who lacked stability.
He gave a rickety bow and started speaking. "Uhm, baron, I saw your son gathering tons of people from the town to help him build something. He called it a bathhouse or something like that."
"WHAT?" The baron slammed the table, standing up on his feet. "What the hell? What is that boy doing? Building something in this time when there isn't money?" the baron yelled.
"Uhm, he isn't using anything that comes from the town. He is providing them food and water and stuff… and other stuff." The man started speaking, his voice trailing off at the end.
"Get him out of here, then go to that place and bring my son back here to me." The baron said.
The knight responded, grabbed the man by the hair, pulled him out of the office, and slammed the door behind him.
The baron grabbed the edge of the table, his teeth clenched hard.
"What the hell is that kid doing? When did he know anything about building? Just yesterday he was outside reading his books. Tch, why did I have to have such an unusual child?" he muttered.
[.....]
Back at the site, Raze looked as more wood was cut down, and with his help and specifications they were able to make it to a certain level in decent time.
Raze looked at the wood that was cut, he frowned.
"Young master, what's wrong? Are they not up to your standard?" the man that was a builder asked.
"No, they won't work for it. They need to be far straighter for it to work, and so far the cuts are far too crooked." He said, touching a large piece of wood that was cut.
He looked around and spotted a saw and picked it up. He lit a flame with his finger and started marking out the right measurements with his finger.
He drew the line perfectly straight, stunning the man. He used no form of measurement.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around as he started cutting. He sawed with all the strength he had, his thin muscles tensed.
But despite the fact that he was extremely slow, the cut was straight as a line. He moved with steady progression, his movement drawing everyone in. They watched without blinking.
He moved consistently for a few minutes and the plank was cut clean, straight, and well measured.
Everyone erupted in a low cheer for him, but then he looked up at them with cold eyes. "Why are you cheering?" he asked, and they immediately stopped.
"Look at what I did. Are you seriously going to allow a pampered son of a noble to cut wood better than you?" he asked, attacking their pride.
Everyone looked at themselves, they gritted their teeth.
"Hell no, if there is going to be a bathhouse, it will be because of our skill," one man said.
"Sorry to say, but your skills suck. From the looks of things the bathhouse would take a long time to complete. Or do you not want somewhere to relax?" he asked.
"Of course we do," they responded.
"Well, I'll not be working with anything that's not done perfectly. I believe if you want to do something, do it well. So all of you get to work. Use mine as the template and make the perfect planks for this building," he said, walking to the blueprints.
"Every measurement for every material is inside here. There is absolutely no room for any error. You can't go over or below, or I'll have to come and do it myself.
And if I have to do it myself, I'll have the bathhouse to myself for a week after it's done. I'm sure you don't want to see one person enjoying it alone, so get to it already," he said.
All the workers erupted in cheers. They got back to work, trying to fix their errors and make it perfect.
"Young master, I didn't think you were someone that could motivate people," Elaine said.
"Uhm, it was just a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. They weren't doing a good enough job. I really don't want to invest in what is not good enough," he said.
Raze suddenly spotted a knight headed their way. He raised his brow. "It seems my father might have heard of what I'm doing," he said. She looked over there and saw the knight as well.
"What do we do now, young master?" she asked.
"Ignore him. We are in the center of people and working. He would need force to come in and drag me out, and that would incite anger amongst the commoners, seeing how the knight treats people for the baron.
And as it stands, father can't stand to keep losing the support of people. His name is on the line after all," Raze said.