Chapter 109 - 109. Here Cometh The Castle Of Keating-Macleod (1/2)

It was lunchtime when the children had returned from their task... I mean their quest and produced me the little pocketbook that they had gotten a bookstore to design for them.

When they heard it is from the House of Keating, the proprietor decided to produce the small pocketbook for free since House of Keating had been supporting the bookstore in general supplies for the children from Keating's Day Care Centre.

One thing for sure, we had received quite a reputation for being a tradesman as well as a guild master, some would call. Even though we were waiting for the castle to be ready, it would still be zero memberships as I would wish the lieutenants or the mentors to master all the training grounds first.

During our lunch of steamed rice, some vegetables and braised pork in salted beans, the arrival of the castle was announced and it was brought in by a few low bed trailers where the workers who had early lunch began to commence their work.

A few hundred men were deployed and they set up the towers first before they lay the ground for the obstacle course around it, along with the courtyard that could assemble 200 over people. Within a span of a few hours and before dinner time the whole setup was done and a hundred workers and the flatbed trailers moved off to where they had come from.

The children went to see the development of the building and were amazed on how fast they could set up all the partitions and boarding to make it look like a castle, complete with its Formica masonry stone walls and all the fittings. Before long, it finally took shape like a three-storey castle complete with its 4 training grounds on the lower floors as the castle was situated in an elevated platform.

”Daddy, Mummy... The 3 storey castle has finally been completed. It is H-U-G-E...with a perimeter of at least 400 meters around it. Can we all move right in after this?” Ingles was excited to see the development and she reported back to me and I just smiled at her and the rest of the children.

”There's no furnishings up in the rooms yet, no bed, bedding, pillows, armoire, full-length windows and there's no cooks and housekeeper engaged yet. Trish, is there such an agency here where we can hire cooks unlike the ones in the cookhouse but mainly for domestic purposes and a housekeeper as well? ”

I asked and the reply I got was rather disappointing because we do not wish to hire general cooks but at least one that could produce snacks, pastries, cakes and puddings rather than steamed corn, yam, roasted sweet potatoes and such.

”Ah well... We can get a general cook to handle our main meals first and a general housekeeper. Come on, let's see our new home.” I picked myself from the bench I was sitting in the cookhouse and went ahead with the rest of them towards the grounds of the castle.

It was what we had ordered for the main doors, the courtyard, the drink and food stands and the tables and chairs at the sides of it. Around the courtyard's perimeter, I could see all the obstacles lined up just as I had requested which consist of the SOC and AOC combined together.

(SOC is the standard obstacle course and AOC is the advanced obstacle course meant for cadet and ranger officers during their training stint)

Right through the courtyard, the 4 training grounds for 4 classes were ready and a practical and duelling ground is in the centre with interchangeable and programmable courses. Just like in a practical shooting course.

Wooden one-handed and two-handed swords, poles, spears, bucklers are arranged nicely in the weapons rack. There's also wooden blank arrow shafts and bolts complete with wooden throwing knives, darts and stars.

8 wingchun statues were also there and with a press of a remote button, the wingchun statues could be raised and hidden into the grounds to make space.

8 archery lanes of about 35 meters were there equipped with stationery and pop up targets. These too could be raised and hidden under the surface at a clock of a remote button.

The best part that I loved the most is the practical and reflexes training area. There are about 12 designs that we could choose from and it would be beasts, hoodlums and innocent bystanders pop up targets inside them.

These 12 designs make up a maze where pop up targets would emerge from the corners, from the ground or from above. A scoreboard and a timer were present so everyone could have a go with it except for the Wizards.

As for the wizards, there was a special arena for them to home their skills and this would be enclosed and away from prying eyes and innocent bystanders. They could freely unleash their fire, frost or lightning magic as and when they like but within the protected area. This is well... You should know that the kind of damage they would deal each time they deploy their magic.

The sliding door for the two majestic wooden doors slid with ease and what we saw was astounding. A great seating area welcomes us at the end of a short hallway and the Keating coat of arms were displayed on the left side of the passageway. ”Dear, you could have someone design the Macleod's coat of arms here on the right,” suggested Patricia as she saw an empty wall across Keating's coat of arms.