Chapter 22 - Hiring help

Hiring Help Needless to say, from that day on, we all worked with a renewed sense of purpose.

Desirée and Franchesca were late for breakfast, and made excuses which the rest of us just waved away, smiling as we returned their customary hugs. Now those hugs felt very natural, and I didn’t remember whether I had removed those instructions or not. When they had fetched their breakfast and sat down with us, I couldn’t resist the temptation.

-”Sleep well, lover birds?” They blushed furiously, but the rest of us laughed and congratulated them.

-”So, when’s the marriage?” I pushed on.

-”Oh, stop it now, Daddy” Marie said, digging her elbow into my arm.

-”Ok, ok. I’m just happy to see you’re making friends.” I winked at them.

After breakfast, we drove down to the town and did some shopping. The car dealer could hardly believe me when I said I didn’t want just one, but seven of the cars we’d tested. I had to repeat myself carefully, and eventually had to let Desirée help me explain it to him. Yes, we wanted seven of those cars. Yes, we knew they weren’t cheap cars. Yes, we wanted them all white and with custom decals that he would get from our PR agency. Yes, we could pay in advance as long as we got the paperwork. Yes, right now. Yes, and could he please be so kind as to deliver them to us?

Yes, he would need to bring in some men to do that, but maybe when we bought this many Yes, to that ch‰teux. No, this was the new owner. A school, yes.

Similar scenes had played out in the tailor shop where the women ordered their bespoke dresses and four hundred school uniforms, I was told. Yes, they wanted three bespoke dresses each. Yes, made from that fabric. Yes, expensive, but nevertheless Four hundred uniforms, correct. Oh, not possible? But maybe order from Thailand or some other country in south-east Asia? Oh, they had such contacts already? Did they have catalogues of school uniforms, maybe? Oh, good. Yes, four hundred of that exact model. Mixed sizes. Payment in advance? No problem, we’ll just go get Mr.

Andersson. Yes, that Mr. Andersson - the one who had bought the ch‰teaux. Oh, you knew their caterer? Well, then you know we’re starting a school, so Yes, only girls. No, a boarding school.

Boys would be lurking in the bushes? Well, we’d just have to shoot them on sight or set the Rottweilers on them then. Well, nearly serious. No trespassers, no. Yes, guard them like precious jewels, since the parents trusted us to take good care of them. Yes, but if we could get that paperwork in order and pay We laughed about our similar experiences all the way home. The town would be abuzz with rumours about the new school, if it wasn’t already. Many local craftsmen and businesses were making good money these days for sure.

Then I left the teachers alone for a few days, and only met them during meals. They knew that the first girls would come for their interviews next week, and they conscientiously wanted to have everything in perfect order for when they came. Curriculums presented in printed documents, their ideas about teaching not for school, but for life - the school’s motto - presented clearly and intelligibly, their schedules drawn up, etc, etc. While some of them were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the students for reasons of their own, they were all very full of anticipation.

Marie was busy with her research on research into molecular medicine, preparing for when we would launch the NanoRep science initiative, trying to find the names of the very best scientists in the relevant fields, but more than that actually trying to figure out which fields were actually relevant. I wouldn’t have wanted to hand off that work to anyone else, but Marie was at least as intelligent as I, I felt, and she certainly had the drive to get it done. She was consumed by the idea of preserving her youth, not ageing unless she wanted to. She also wanted to succeed with the problem for altruistic reasons, as we had discussed at length, but her total dedication to her studies came from that desire to remain forever young. I joked about this being her Magnum Opus, and had to tell her about the alchemists and their search for the Philosopher’s Stone.

-”We’ve already found the Philosopher’s Stone, “ she replied; “Now we just need to figure out how it works.” I left her to it.

The construction of the new garage started, and I oversaw it for a few hours, having the contractor explain to me how they were going to remove the trees without damaging nearby trees, and how they would flatten the area, and when I was satisfied that they would do a good job, I left them to it.

Then I started looking for girls to hire as housemaids and kitchen staff. First I thought about hiring them locally, but then I realized that was a really bad idea. Local girls would know too much and risk telling someone about what was going on at the ch‰teaux. Better to cast my net wider. Then I thought even harder. Supervising girls when they did the dishes and cleaned the house - how hard was that? I looked for upper secondary schools and colleges that had hotel- and restaurant programmes and found a couple of big schools in a city not too far away, but most importantly, not too close either.

I put on tight jeans and an even tighter t-shirt, sneakers and sunglasses, and then I took my car and drove to the school. It took me a few hours, but it’d be worth it, I hoped. When I found it, I simply went in and asked my way around until I found the principal, introduced myself as his colleague from another school, gave him my business card and said sorry for just coming over like this, but could I buy him lunch and Over lunch, I showed him our materials and website and told him about my idea.

Would they be interested in sending students to us for practice? Yes, it was pretty far, but we were a boarding school, so they would get their own rooms Yes, anything from a week or two to a few months would work for us. We just needed girls that were able to take responsibility and had some training Yes, interviews. No, since we were a strictly girls-only boarding school, all the teachers were women, so only girls Yes, I was the only man there, but I was the owner, so Yes, I owned the place, the ch‰teaux too, not just the school enterprise. No, not renting, I owned it.

Apparently, that was immensely impressive, and while wearing jeans and t-shirt wasn’t the French way, that meant I really came off as a genuinely eccentric Scandinavian millionaire. He believed every word I said. Within an hour, he was showing me around his school, introducing me to their teachers, letting me look inside some of their classrooms while lessons were going on.

We agreed that I would come next week, together with one of my teachers or an assistant, and conduct the interviews. Second or third year students could apply, and he would let me present myself and our school to them tomorrow, so that they had a full week to think about it, and to take home some material to their parents and discuss it with them if they felt interested. I shook his hand vigorously when I left, giving him the million dollar grin. The subtle hint I dropped over lunch that I would be happy to give his school a little donation and let them use our name in their marketing was probably what had persuaded him the most. I could almost see how he was mentally counting his money.

So I drove back to the ch‰teaux, prepared boxes of chocolate and other sweets - ones we had ordered with our logo on the boxes - with NanoReps that would infect and last only a couple of weeks before letting go and allowing themselves to be flushed out. I then recruited Marie to help me make some paperwork that would look suitably serious, describing how this would be an opportunity to get some real-life experience that would look good on a CV, and to make some connections that could be useful in later life. We added material about our school, and added that there would be real work involved, but that there would be economic compensation in the amount of -”Is five hundred Euro a week too much?” I asked.

-”No, that’s ok. Point out that food and lodging is included as well.”

The next day, I wore an even tighter t-shirt and a black blazer. Now that I had the body, I’d make use of it. I drove back to the city and introduced myself to two hotel and tourism classes and two restaurant and kitchen classes, one in each grade. I made a point of taking off my blazer and shooting the young ladies charismatic smiles while I gave my presentations in a mix of bad French and decent English. Then I gave them all little bags with our printed materials and pointed out that there was also a bit of chocolate and sweets in there. Now, had they all understood or were there any questions before I went to speak with the next class?

Yes, five hundred per week, food and lodging included. Yes, anywhere from one week to a few months. Or if things went really well, we could talk about extending that. No, they could do schoolwork from the ch‰teaux, so that was no problem. Yes, they would be teaching girls. No, the girls would actually be doing most of the work, but they needed supervision, so in a sense they would be getting teaching experience. Yes, a real castle, pools and tennis courts and a spa and all.

Yes, I would be back next week to conduct the interviews.

I stayed and had lunch in their canteen, and chatted with quite a few of the girls. They seemed quite fascinated with me, asking about who I was and if I was really the owner of the ch‰teaux, and if that was my car outside. Yes, swimming pools and a spa. And a gym. Yes, five hundred. I had to repeat that in many conversations. To my delight, I could see many of them snacking on their chocolates and sweets while we spoke. Best of all was when the principal asked to take home a few boxes for his wife and kids, because he liked them so.

We made arrangements for next week and shook hands. A job well done.

The next day, and for a few days after that, I saw NanoRep systems coming online as they connected to nearby wifi and sent their encrypted handshakes to my server. More systems than the girls I had spoken to, but that didn’t matter. I sent them back some hypnopedic phrases that would be imprinted on their neocortex over the next few nights.

“That boarding school in the ch‰teaux looks like a very good place to go for practice and to earn some money.” That was neutral enough.

“It’s good for girls to spend some time away from home and learn to handle their own” “Five hundred a week plus food and lodging is a sweet deal - you’d be a fool not to apply” Those would work even if someone else than my target audience listened to them and embraced them.

The next day, the truck from the Netherlands came with my bdsm-gear and tools to decorate the dungeon in my suite. The two men, who were both my own age, were in awe at the size and opulence of the mansion. I gave them rooms to stay in, and gave them lunch spiced with NanoReps just to be safe, then spent the majority of that day with them up in the suite, talking over the project. Next evening, because I liked them well enough and they worked with bdsm-gear and wouldn’t be shocked easily, I asked them to join me and the teachers in the spa, to which they agreed. All of us had dinner together before we retreated to the basement.

My friends had the best of times teasing the men, who had obviously been around and really didn’t shock easily. They took the unisex changing room in stride, and showered without ogling the women too much, chatted with us in the sauna without making untoward advances - real gentlemen. Then Marie joined us, and seeing her shower, lustfully and slowly soaping herself up, was too much for one of them. He started hiding his raging erection, and stayed in the sauna for so long that I thought we’d have to carry him out. The women saw his predicament and mercifully went to the jacuzzi to let him escape their eyes for a minute while he snuck out.

-”Are they presents for us?” Tanya asked me in the jacuzzi.

-”Nope. But you’re a grown woman and I won’t stop you from taking initiatives.” I smirked at her.

-”I might just have some fun with them.”

-”Go ahead, I won’t stop you. Just no sperm in the jacuzzi, ok?” The women laughed at that.

-”Or in the pool or in the sauna” I added.

They laughed even harder.

Marie stretched like a cat and got something predatory in her eyes.

-”I think I’ll go take another shower. That Henry guy looked like he wanted to see more of me.” She said, much to Tanya’s chagrin, who also stood up and went to the showers.

-”Do I sense competition?” Sophie asked behind her back, but loud enough that she would hear it.

Tanya shot her a glance, but smiled.

-”Hey, Sophie, “ I said; “Come to think of it, Henry and Geert are pretty into bdsm themselves, you know. I didn’t ask them about their preferences, but Maybe they like the really hardcore stuff?” I saw a gleam in her eye, and then she too stood up to go to the showers.

-”Thanks Karl.” She said.

-”On your own risk.” -”At my own risk. Not on.” She walked off, striding deliberately, noticeably swaying her hips.

-”Hell’s bells, “ I said to myself; “what have I done?” -”Like you said, we’re adults Karl” Desirée said.

-”I wasn’t thinking of you, ladies. I was thinking of them.” We wound up all retreating to my suite to look at what they had built during the day, and Geert and Henry put on a pretty spectacular show with Sophie and Tanya while the rest of us looked on in amazement. We flinched and looked away now and then, as something got particularly intense, but they were clearly all enjoying themselves. Unbeknownst to Geert and Henry, I had boosted their erectile responses and shortened their refractory periods, so that night they performed like true woodsmen.