Twenty-Sixth Day of July, In the Year of the Empire 6777

Mr. Hox had prepared well for my trip. Four armed and armored guards sat ready on horseback. An enclosed coach with a driver would take Mr. Hox and me to my new estate in just under four hours. A good part of the first hour was just getting out of the city.

As the coach traveled, Mr. Hox went through a significant number of papers he had put together. First, he gave me all the signed confidential and loyalty agreements for the employees and their families. Somehow, I had just ended up with lots of them, and this was unexpected. I had not thought about what it would mean to have the property long term, especially the employees. Taxes and wages had not entered my calculations, or even my head, at all. And there was far more to it than that.

During my education, I learned that Kingdom Mages were considered minor nobles. I just had not thought what that would mean concerning my land purchase. An unlanded minor noble was equal an Esquire, or Knight in training, in the Kingdom's army. With the purchase of land, including a mansion, a small hamlet, and the surrounding farmlands, I jumped over Knight straight to Baron.

Mr. Hox informed me that my status of 'Honored Mage' and 'Instructor' made getting everything done so fast possible. He congratulated me on all of my hard work paying benefits so soon.

As a Baron, I now had four Knights, the gentlemen escorting us today. Each is to be supported by a portion of my barony. With a part set aside for me, it amounted to about one-fifth of my property for each Knight. These same four Knights were pledged to the Kingdom if called upon, at my expense. Mr. Hox advised that up to half of my Knights would generally be serving in the Kingdom's army unless the Kingdom was at war. Even then, I might not be required to send all my knights to ensure peace and safety at home. Or I could hire and send mercenaries in their stead.

Of the nearly one-thousand hectares I now owned, some six-hundred hectares were for farming. However, only seventy-six of the estimated ninety-three, farms were being worked. These seventy-six families would be under the protection of one of my Knights and myself. An additional twenty-two of thirty-eight families lived in the small hamlet providing essential services such as the blacksmith, leatherworker, clothier, and more to support all the farming families, the Knights, and the mansion. The hamlet and mansion grounds would stay under my direct control. My second-in-command, as it were, would be the estate steward.

By the time we neared the mansion, I was a jumbled mix of emotions. I am a Baron, great! Oh, gods, I'm a Baron, and all these people depend on me!

Then I asked the most foolish question of all, "Mr. Hox, is all of this, this barony, self-supporting?"

He tried to smile and break it to me gently, but no, not self-supporting at all. The farms were doing poorly, so poorly that having enough food through the next winter was in doubt. Though just hired, the knights would need additional funds for their upkeep and pay. While the hamlet was small, it needed repairs and improvements. The mansion would need repairs and maintenance as well. One wing was partially damaged by fire, meaning a third of it needed rebuilding. He quickly added that I had gotten all of this at a fraction of the fair price.

Grimacing, I asked, "And what is your estimate of the cost to maintain things as is each year?"

Mr. Hox was forthright at least, "Some two to three hundred gold a year, sir."

I had thought that my mana headache the other day was terrible. I was so, so wrong.

Once we arrived at the mansion, which looked more than a little run down. Especially the east side with the not so 'wee bits' of charred framing standing at odd angles. Mr. Hox introduced me to the new steward, Mr. Milbrey. Mr. Hox had advised me that the old steward was quite ancient, and not up to the duties any longer. I guessed that he should have a replacement years ago.

I just wanted a place to test building with rituals. I, oh wow.

With paperwork and introductions done, Mr. Hox was returning to the city. I thanked him for all that he had done and gave him the promised bonus before saying goodbye.

Twenty-Sixth Day of July, In the Year of the Empire 6777 Continued

After a quick tour of the mansion, Mr. Milbrey and I sat down at the dining room table, and I dug out two new books. The first one was a ledger, which I opened to the first page and wrote in the cost of the land, the rush fee, and the bonus paid. The second book was a journal for keeping track of everything related to the barony.

"Mr. Milbrey, I first want to thank you for taking on this job. I'm looking forward to working with you as I am going to depend heavily on you to help manage this barony."

Mr. Milbrey and I continued to discuss the needs of the barony well into the afternoon. I made the best decisions I could. Most of the time, I took Mr. Milbrey's advice, but often I decided to take things a step further. That was how I remember my father telling me about his shop, 'pay for quality, expect quality.' We set a budget for the year, including rebuilding the manor and taking care of many of the hamlet's needs. I also appointed the Knights to rotate being the Magistrate each month for the barony's small issues. More significant issues would come to me, or be turned over to the Kingdom, as was warranted.

Security was also important, as well. Small-time bandits had been harassing the farmers and their families. I called in the Knights to get their input on the matter. The four of them thought that they would be able to handle the issue, but I had invested too much into them already and did not want to have to find more. Recalling some of the military histories I had read, I asked each of them to find and train an esquire and eight soldiers each.

Each knight would be responsible for a squad of two five men teams, including themselves. We also set up training and patrol schedules that would have all teams training and working together. Once we had them rudimentary trained and proven worthy, we would start sending them off for Kingdom training a few at a time.

Preferring safety first, working farms second, I advised the Knights to look for esquires and soldiers from among the young men in the barony, especially those without any other desirable skills. They would go back to the Warriors Guild if they needed to search beyond the barony. Mr. Milbrey would find more farmers.

Of course, this brought up the need for a barracks building to be built. The placement of the new barracks would be between the hamlet and the manor.

The plan was for forty soldiers, but room for an extra twenty in times of trouble would be wise. I also wanted all of them mounted to respond to problems quickly.

Sixty horses required a stable. They were going to be expensive 'light horse' too, not common plow horses, meaning they would need the special care of a stablemaster and a few stablehands. The soldiers would help do the rest.

With sixty men and sixty horses, supplies were an issue, meaning finding a quartermaster with a few helpers was next on the list. Again, the soldiers would help do the rest.

Going this far, I go ahead and plan for a weapons master to oversee training.

The Knights and specialists did not want to share the barracks the men, so that's a third building to add. It would also provide the administrative offices, a large kitchen, a huge mess hall, and a large storage area.

To top off my visions of glory, I decided to build three barrack buildings, housing twenty men each and three stables, to shelter twenty horses each. So instead of two significant buildings, I would have six smaller ones to reduce the risk of fire damaging everything.

With a simple 'U' shaped building plan, a large parade field would be in the center of it all. We also made spacing plans for a wall to go around everything, but I would not commit to building that just yet.

With all the plans laid, the Knights and I just hashed out a small fort. Did I mean to take 'security' this far? It's the right thing to do, but my pockets are never going to be full at this rate. With a sigh, I assign an eight-hundred gold budget to build the fort.

By the time Mr. Milbrey and I had all the planning done, another twelve-hundred gold budget existed. Four-hundred gold to repair and rebuild the mansion. Four-hundred gold more would take care of getting the hamlet back into shape, including sewers and stone roads, of which there were none. No wonder everyone looked sick when we passed through. The last four-hundred gold was for the laying in of supplies for the winter and to repair and maintain the main road and access spur that serviced the barony. Thankfully, only the barony used the roadway that circled within it.

Now that my family is no longer supporting me, it was also time to figure out a way to earn gold for myself. The barony may generate an income eventually, or so I fervently hoped.

My instructor's salary was to pay for the four years at the school to become a High Mage. Past that, I had no plans, yet. Well, that was not entirely true. I wanted to add a vast library to the manor someday.

At this point, I've spent a lot more than I ever wanted in just three days. And there are still wages, horses, and equipment to account for yet.