Chapter 98: Building the Ashcroft Future

Reinhard reached for his phone. "There is someone who can help."

Emily glanced at the screen. "Lucien?"

"Who else?"

The call connected after a few rings. "Reinhard. What happened?"

"I need your help."

A short pause. "What happened?"

"I want to buy a house."

Silence, the specific kind that comes from a man recalculating his entire week.

"...A house?"

"Yes."

"You called me for that?"

"You’re familiar with Aurelius City’s high-end property market." Reinhard leaned back. "I need somewhere suitable for my family. Good security, high Mana density, room for expansion, access to the major Awakener districts."

"What else?"

"Training, research, medical facilities, relic storage, guest rooms, meeting spaces."

Lucien was quiet for a moment. "And I assume you want it to feel like a house, not a military compound."

"Exactly."

"You bought your current house only a few months ago."

"That one is our home."

"And this one?"

Reinhard smiled, invisible through the phone but audible anyway. "Everything else."

Another pause, longer this time. "...You’re building a headquarters."

"Something like that."

"I see." Lucien’s sigh carried the full weight of a man who had already agreed to this before he’d finished hearing it. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"A large private property somewhere in Aurelius City. Enough land for future expansion, strong security, good Mana density. Close enough to the important districts without being drowning in people."

"I do have an idea of one... Astral Heights neighborhood in the Celestine Avenue streets." Lucian muttered before asking. "And your budget?"

"Does it matter?"

Lucien exhaled slowly. "I suppose not."

...

The search began the next day. Lucien dragged Reinhard through half the city’s available estates, and Reinhard rejected them all with the enthusiasm of a man who had somewhere better in mind and simply hadn’t found it yet.

The first had beautiful architecture and defenses that hadn’t been updated since before the War Lords were a problem. The second had excellent security and almost no land to build on. Both of these location was in Vanna Neighborhood but still got rejected even it look amazing.

The third was enormous, fortified, and about as welcoming as a prison block.

Reinhard stood in the main hall and looked around slowly. "It feels depressing."

"It’s a fortress," Lucien said.

"I know."

"You asked for high security."

"I asked for security. Not misery." He turned back toward the door. "I don’t want my family coming home to something that looks like it’s compensating for a war crime."

Lucien shook his head and moved on without arguing the point.

The fourth property finally made Reinhard stop walking.

A large private estate on the streets of Celestine Avenue and close enough to the wealthy Awakener districts, generous privacy, a main residence already impressive on its own, and plenty of surrounding land for anything they might want to add later. The real draw, though, was underneath it.

A natural Mana convergence, dense and stable, running straight through the foundation.

Reinhard stepped onto the grounds and felt the difference immediately.

"How strong is it?"

"Strong enough to support everyone growth, advanced training, Mana-based equipment, even certain medical facilities," Lucien said. "The previous owner sank a fortune into the land before deciding to sell."

Reinhard’s eyes narrowed with the specific focus of a man doing complicated math very quickly. The Ashcroft Mana Nexus could absorb ambient Mana and convert it to usable power throughout a residence. Paired with a convergence this strong, the whole estate could run on itself indefinitely.

"This place is good."

"That’s one reason it’s expensive."

Reinhard looked across the land. "We’ll take it."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. "You haven’t asked the price."

"That’s what I called you for."

Lucien stared at him for a long moment before shaking his head. "I understand now why people find you difficult."

"I prefer interesting."

"Of course you do."

The purchase closed soon after. Once the architects arrived, Reinhard laid out what he wanted like he was ordering off a menu he’d already memorized.

"A training wing. A medical wing. A research facility. A relic vault. An operations room. Guest rooms. A garden." He paused for effect. "And a pool."

Maki looked at him. "A pool?"

"Why?"

"Because we’re rich."

Lily’s hand shot up immediately. "I support the pool."

Maki sighed in the specific way that meant she’d already lost this argument before it started. "You’re not even going to negotiate?"

"Why would I?"

"Because that’s a ridiculous amount of money."

"I can make more money." Reinhard glanced toward the property, voice dropping into something quieter and completely sincere. "I can’t buy another family."

Maki went quiet. Emily looked at him for a long moment before smiling softly, and even Lily, for once, didn’t have a joke ready.

The architect cleared his throat and got back to the plans. "We can work with that."

What started as a single discussion turned into a full family meeting within the hour. Emily studied the training layouts first. "If we’re building a training facility, I want it to be able to change environments."

"Environmental simulation?" the architect asked.

"Something like that. Different terrain, different Mana conditions, different pressure."

"Add it," Reinhard said immediately.

Emily glanced at him. "You didn’t even ask how much it costs."

"I trust you."

That answer stopped her for a second longer than she expected. She looked back down at the plans, a small smile creeping in anyway.

Maki had already moved on to the research wing.

"I want a separate artifact examination room."

"Add it."

"And a containment room."

"Add it."

"Mana analysis equipment."

"Add it." Reinhard didn’t even look up.

Maki studied him. "You’re going to keep saying yes, aren’t you?"

"Probably."

"Then I want more storage."

Yuna, by contrast, treated the entire property like a security assessment.

She studied the entrance layout for several seconds before pointing toward one of the eastern approaches.

"This needs another evacuation route."

The architect made a note.

"And the eastern side has a blind spot."

Another note.

"Communication systems should run directly into the defensive network. If something happens here, I want every defensive system responding through one central command."

The architect looked at her with growing interest. "You’re thinking about emergency coordination?"

"I’m thinking about what happens when the first defense fails."

Yuna pointed toward another section of the map.

"And this area needs a secondary barrier. If someone gets past the outer defenses, I don’t want them reaching the main residence before we know they’re here."

Reinhard watched her work through the layout. "You like it?"

Yuna looked over the plans. "It’s useful." She paused with a faint smile. "Very useful."

Lily, meanwhile, had been waiting her turn with the patience of a toddler at a candy store.

"What am I getting?"

Reinhard pointed toward the training wing. "An entire building."

Her eyes lit up instantly. "Can I blow something up?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I just paid for it."

Emily laughed, and even the architect’s pen paused mid-note like he was filing that exchange away for later.

Construction began soon after. The Ashen Construction Core settled into the central foundation, and for a moment nothing happened at all.

Then Mana began moving beneath their feet, arrays activating in sequence, reinforcing foundations and threading conduits through the entire property.

Walls rose faster than should have been physically reasonable. Defensive systems wove themselves directly into the structure. The whole estate adjusted itself to the plans in real time, like it was in a hurry to be finished.

The architect watched with open fascination. "With this core, the structure can keep evolving after construction ends."

"Good," Reinhard said.

"You don’t want a finished house?"

"I want a house that can grow with us."

That became the whole philosophy behind it.

The main residence was built around the family instead of around appearances, a dining hall big enough for future gatherings nobody had planned.

Yet a living room with room for all five of them at once, guest quarters tucked away from the family’s private wing, library and common spaces flowing together naturally. Reinhard hadn’t wanted a palace.

The medical wing came together next, treatment rooms, Mana stabilization arrays, recovery chambers, equipment that could eventually support Gnosis-related care if anyone ever needed it again.

Emily walked through it slowly, stopping at one of the treatment rooms. "You really had them built all this?"

"Of course."

She looked around the space. "We don’t need this because I’m broken anymore."

"I know." He met her eyes. "It’s here because nobody in this family should have to go through what you did without somewhere to recover."

Emily stayed quiet for a moment. The room didn’t feel like a reminder of what she’d lost anymore. It felt like something they’d built because of what they’d learned.

"I like it," she said.

The training wing turned out even bigger, a combat arena at its center surrounded by Mana testing rooms, Gnosis facilities, environmental simulators, and walls reinforced well past anything a normal household would ever need. Lily wandered the arena floor, visibly vibrating with excitement.

"This is mine?"

"For training."

"Can I test the walls?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I just paid for them."

Lily pouted, and Emily laughed hard enough that Lily eventually cracked a grin too.

The research wing became Maki’s favorite corner of the entire compound almost instantly. Mana analysis equipment, artifact examination tables, experimental chambers, archives, and containment areas filled the facility. Maki moved from one section to another, already examining the equipment with the same focus she had used whenever she investigated Emily’s Gnosis.

"You’re giving me all of this?"

"You needed somewhere to work."

Maki looked around again. "This is more than I expected."

"Then use it."

She smiled. "I will."

Yuna’s operations room was something else entirely. Communication systems, property-wide security controls, maps, emergency routes, monitoring arrays, and defensive controls covered the walls. As an experienced Awakener, she immediately understood what the room could become.

The relic vault came next, the single most secure room in the entire compound, and also, for the moment, completely empty.

Emily looked at Reinhard. "You’re already planning to fill it."

He looked genuinely offended. "Planning?" A beat. "It’s called preparation."

Emily laughed.

The garden wrapped around the natural Mana convergence, open ground left for rare plants and Mana-rich vegetation to take root. The pool went in right beside it.

"You really insisted on the pool," Maki said.

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Because we’re rich," Reinhard said, for the second and final time, like it was a legal argument he intended to keep winning.

Lily nodded with complete seriousness. "That’s a good reason."

The Ashcroft Mana Nexus went in soon after, and the moment it connected, the natural convergence beneath the estate answered immediately, Mana flooding the foundation and feeding the training facilities, medical systems, research equipment, and defensive arrays all at once.

The house had its own power source now, and more importantly, room to keep growing.

As the final work wrapped up, the five of them walked the property together. Emily lingered near the training wing. Yuna was already deep in conversation with one of the researchers outside the lab. Maki ran one last check on the security systems out of pure habit. Lily was talking fast and loud about everything she planned to do in the arena the second it opened.

Emily eventually drifted back over to him. "It’s strange."

"What is?"

She looked out across the compound. "A few months ago, I thought getting my life back would be enough." A soft smile. "Now we’re building something completely different."

"We are," he said.

She leaned lightly against his shoulder, and for a moment neither of them said anything else. Reinhard looked toward the new house, built to handle guests, meetings, training, research, and whatever else came with their growing reputation.

Leyline Street didn’t need to change for any of that. That house was where their ordinary life had started. This one was for everything that came after it.

The architect approached with one last question. "How many people will be living here?"

Reinhard looked at Emily. Then Maki. Then Yuna. Then Lily. Then, finally, himself.

"Five."

The architect wrote it down and moved on.

Reinhard looked out across the enormous property one more time. Five people living here with four of them having different paths to walk. The house was done, now it was time to see what each of them would make of their room.