Keith's defense was not as good at Katarina's. Maria didn't say that to his face, as that might be rude.
"Katarina made this look so easy in the play," Keith wheezed as he took a moment to catch his breath. "How did she do this? Even if it was stage props, that armor and sword were heavy!"
"Lady Katarina's much stronger than you, I suppose," Maria said. "Certainly more developed arm muscles. It's probably the farming."
Already, her saber was feeling awkward in her hand. Should she have it converted into a twinblade? Or at least give it a twinblade option? She'd seen no trick weapons yet in this life, but given the skill of the smiths she'd met, she was fairly sure it was within their ability.
Perhaps a few test pieces first. Titanite alloy shouldn't be messed with lightly, after all. a pity she had no blood gems or anything like it to augment the blade.
"I think that's enough for the morning," Maria said. "Any more and we'll be too tired to farm."
"It's a garden," Keith said lamely.
"It's a vegetable patch. That makes it farming."
Once upon a time, the Dieke mansion must have been full of Dieke children. It would certainly explain why they had a blackboard and writing slates hidden away somewhere.
Maria nodded her approval of the conversion of yet another room. She was really running out of presentable rooms to see visitors to. "Excellent. Coordinate with the teachers as to what needs to be transferred from the school house and contact the carpenters about simple benches and tables for the rest." She paused for a moment. "More benches and tables, I should say. How is the progress on the second floor dining room?"
"It's almost finished, my lady," Ghiradeli said. "The primary dining hall should be presentable for visitors again soon. Though many still prefer to eat out at the balcony for the fresh air."
Maria nodded. "Good. Make a note about demolishing that woman's room and turning the space into a similar balcony for them to eat at."
"Noted, your ladyship," her steward said. Fortunately, with the nightflower commissions Sophia had made, the household finally had a decent income of souls.
"I think we'll make the bathhouse soon," Maria said. "We certainly need it, and it will make laundry more convenient to centralize all the water usage. Anything else?"
"Miss Chiharu has reported some of your wards are getting restive. She suggests putting them to some kind of work, if only to give them more to do besides cleaning their rooms and laundry," Ghirardeli said. "She suggests having them help in the kitchen to make their own food, so that more workers can be freed for the maintenance of the house."
"Hmm… I'll speak to her," Maria said. "There should be some who aren't suicide risks."
"Ah. As you say, my lady," her steward said. "Also, you have asked to make inquiries as to a personal maid for yourself. Some of the maids we currently have employed are willing, but they are terribly inexperienced."
"Experience shouldn't be necessary," Maria said. "They'd still need to be trained in any case. Hopefully Miss Shelley will be amenable, should mother recover. Please note that we will need a maid for her as well, as Miss Shelley is merely on loan from Lady Claes. Are there no senior maids available to train or take on the role themselves?"
"None who I cannot confidently say were note complicit in that woman's deeds beyond merely inaction," Ghirardeli said.
"Ah," Maria said. Of course. That woman had been sickly. It stood to reason she'd have her maid with her in her crimes. "Understood. Do the best you can with the candidates available."
"Miss Chiharu has expressed interest in the position, as well as some of your wards," Ghirardeli said. "If I may be so bold, my lady…?"
"Within reason," Maria said, giving him permission.
"You have rescued these people from slavery, and that is commendable," her steward said. "But now they are rudderless, many purposeless. As their protector, it falls to you to protect them from this as well. I would recommend taking them in as new staff."
"How would that be any different from them become the slaves of the twisted?" Maria said, feeling a hot, directionless surge of anger at the thought.
"With all due respect my lady, because it is you doing it," Ghirardeli said. "You would give them a choice, and a purpose, and would care for them. The twisted would not. Should they not at least be presented with the option?"
Maria considered.
"I will consider it," Maria said. "Was there anything else?"
"We are slightly straining the supplies of water available," her steward said. "With the rains, it's not a problem, but it will likely become so, in time. A new well might be in order."
"I believe that will not be a problem," Maria said.
Hopefully Keith wouldn't mind the little addition.
Eventually, Keith had a free day.
"I'll admit, I'm nervous about this," he said as he and Maria rode together in her carriage. "I mean, theoretically I can do it, but…"
Maria held up a hand. "Don't overthink it. You said yourself it was a simple matter of scale."
"Yeah, well, the biggest dirt doll I've ever made was only about ten feet tall," Keith said. "And given the mass involved, we won't be able to do this quickly."
"So we don't," Maria said. "Slow and patient. Time is not a problem."
Keith nodded, letting out the breath he'd been holding. "Yes, you're right. It's just moving dirt. That's the simplest thing you can do with this." For a moment, he gave her a half-hearted glare. "How did I let you talk me into this?"
"You were lonely, bored, missing your sister and needed a friend who was not in lust with her," Maria said. "Really, if most people weren't charmed by Lady Katarina as soon as she met them, some unscrupulous person could easily have gotten into your good graces and manipulated you into doing their bidding."
"That makes you sound very manipulative, you realize that, right?" Keith said.
"More or less so than his highness?" Maria said.
"That doesn't count, most people look better when compared to him," Keith said.
"In that case, may I point out another person who would be willing to be your friend?" Maria said.
"Who?" Keith asked warily.
"Lord Ascart," Maria said. "Given his looks, most people he has met have lusted for him in some measure or another. This has forced him to be emotionally distant from most people. I'm sure he could use a friend who is pleasant company."
"He's in love with Katarina," Keith said, but not very fiercely. He seemed willing to admit that Lord Ascart had restraint.
"Look at it this way: what are the chances he's had any visitors lately now that Katarina is away who aren't there for some lustful purpose?"
"He probably has work to occupy him," Keith said. Then his eyes widened. "Oh."
Maria nodded. "I think you two would some things in common beyond Katarina Claes, don't you think?"
"I don't know…" Keith said. "Katarina gets all weird when she sees the two of us close together…"
"Look at it this way," Maria said, going for her charged heavy attack argument. "Besides Rafael, his only other close friend is the Third Prince. Is that a fate you'd wish on him?"
"Maria, you're absolutely right," Keith said, slamming his fist down on his open palm decisively. "Nicol could probably use a friend to hang out with. I just have to remember not to stare at his face." Then he faltered. "Er, what can we do? I just realized I have no idea how you have fun with friends when you don't have to keep them away from your sister."
"Ask him to spar?" Maria suggested.
Keith gave him an incredulous look.
"Well, I can't come over every day. I have work too you know."
By midmorning, they'd reached the town Maria had grown up in, and were staring at the house she'd been raised in this life.
"Still pretty big," Keith said, stroking his chin in thought. "But not as big as I feared."
"I've sent servants to pack all the delicate objects after we spoke," Maria said. "Well, the ones that survived the intrusion. We've lain what furniture we could on the floor. It's as ready as it'll ever be."
"Right," Keith said. "Well, let's see how much we have to move."
They circled the house, Keith occasionally kneeling down and touching the ground, which vibrated subtly through Maria's bones as Earth Magic was used.
Finally, Keith knelt down on the front steps, touching the ground, and concentrated.
Slowly, a circle of earth around the house began to rise. The flowering vines climbing up the stone walls barely swayed as what looked like a turtle of compressed earth rose from the ground, the house on its back, and drifted forward, leaving a hole where the house had been. Maria was amused to Note Keith had taken pains to include the ground of the vegetable patch Katarina had worked the last time she had visited. Gently, the dirt settled back onto the ground, depressing the earth beneath it.
"Okay," Keith said. "Let's go."
The whole mass of dirt began to slide down the road, moving like an oversized garden slug.
"Huh," Maria said, walking because the shambling dirt mound. "I had thought you'd make dirt dolls beneath the house to carry it. Maybe have the dirt beneath the house sprout legs."
"Who do I look like, Vendrick of Drangleic?" Keith said from where he was still sitting in front of the front door's stone steps. "Why make legs when you can just slug crawl the whole thing down the road? Less likely to fall, more stable, not likely to disturb the things inside."
"Imminently sensible," Maria agreed, still walking. "Will you be able to raise it should you encounter traffic trying to pass, or traffic coming from behind?"
"We'll deal with that when it happens," Keith said, in the tones of someone who hadn't.
Maria judged the house's speed. The fact she could outpace it without expending her stamina to run was not encouraging. "Well, it's not like we're pressed for time."
"Let me get used to it," Keith said. "Maybe I can make it go faster."
"Please," Maria said.
He did eventually manage to make it go faster. Still, it was well past midnight before they reached Maria's lands and off the road to somewhere they could set it down for the night. Fortunately, the house was stable enough that Maria was able to make them a suitable lunch and dinner in the kitchen.