Chapter 42 - It’s Done
On the way home from the forest.
"Bossman, thank you so much. How much should I pay?"
"Don't need it."
"No, that's...."
"You provided the materials, and the workers were just me and my big brother. Then again, it was more like playing around than working. I also got to see something interesting today."
Something interesting? What is he talking about?
"My brother and I are about 20 years apart in age, and when I was a kid, I was really scared of him."
I don't know how big a 20-year age difference is for dwarves.
"You should've seen my big brother's face when you compared his prized fireball with bad habits...."
Miguel chuckled mischievously.
"Hey, I can hear you! Besides, I'm better with a hammer than magic. Fireball is just a side skill!"
Dwan grumbled.
Dwan is a hammer-user, huh. I wonder how he fights with it.
"Kiddo, I thought I just need to install the glass, so I said it'd be finished tomorrow. But if you're adding a desk and chairs, it'll take a few more days."
"Can I leave it to you?"
"Sure, but I will charge you this time."
"Of course, I'll pay for them properly."
I still have my two gold coins from Dwan, after all.
"Miguel, send the bill to me. I'll pay it."
Oh, is Arnold going to cover the costs?
"Gail, you ordered a big table and chairs for when everyone comes, right? I'll pay for them."
Lucky! I'll accept his offer like a child should.
"Thank you, Daddy."
"Stop it! You give me goosebumps."
How could he say that to his two years old son?
"Gail, you can call me Mommy if you want."
I'll pass on that. It's kind of embarrassing.
Aina was sulking because Gail refused calling her Mommy. The group then arrived in front of the trading company.
"Kiddo, make sure you show your face tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Did you forget already? You said you’d make another sitting toilet bowl, remember?"
"Oh, right. I'll stop by before heading to the forest then."
"Don’t forget, make sure you come."
Having said that, Dwan entered the trading company.
I'm tired. I walked all the way here from the forest, after all.
"Dan, give me a piggyback ride."
"Sure, but don’t set me on fire all of a sudden."
"I won’t do such a thing!"
"You set my hair on fire this morning."
Oh, right. I forgot.
"I already got my revenge, so I won’t do it again."
"You better mean it...."
Dan gave Gail a piggyback ride while grumbling.
"Dan, is it okay if I use the training method you came up with for Bent too?"
"Yes, sir."
"There’s less than a month until John’s entrance test, so I couldn’t pay much attention to Bent. I've been having him focus on practice swings, but it's not looking good."
Arnold also noticed that Bent's sword was swaying.
"Should I make some wooden swords for Young Master Bent to train?"
"Yes, please."
Arnold seemed really interested in Dan's training method. That showed how effective it was. When the group arrived in front of the mansion, Miguel said good bye and then went on his way.
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Dinner time.
"Where did Dad and Mom go today?"
Bent asked Arnold.
"We went to watch Gail's training today."
"Is it really that important to the point you two took time off work?"
“I left everything to Dan, so I didn’t know what Gail was doing. Why do you ask?”
“You never came to see me, not even once….”
Bent muttered quietly.
“Are you saying you can’t do anything unless Dad and Mom come to watch you every time?”
John delivered a merciless remark to Bent.
“That’s not true....”
Bent hung his head.
John, don’t be so hard on him. Besides, Arnold went to the forest because he was envious of Dan's magic.
“Bent, in two or three days, you’ll get to try a new training method, so look forward to it.”
“Really? A new training method just for me?”
Bent looked up, his face beaming with joy.
It's probably best if he doesn't find out that it's a training method I'm already using.
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Morning training session, the next day. Dan’s target boards and wooden swords weren't ready yet, but Bent was swinging his usual wooden sword in a good mood. John was repeatedly dashing forward, swinging his sword downward, jumping backward, and then swinging his sword upwards, while using Fighting Spirit. It seemed Arnold still wanted to keep the fact that it was actually strengthening magic a secret. Then, after breakfast, Miguel showed up.
"Okay, let's go!"
Arnold tried to come along, but Aina dragged him back.
"Have a safe trip."
Misha waved her hand with a smile. Now that she had been promoted to a full-fledged maid, she had more works to do and couldn't always go with them. But whether it was because she understood that she wasn't being left out, or because she had eaten her fill of venison yesterday, there was a huge difference in how Misha sent Gail off.
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The group arrived at the trading company and went inside.
"You are here at last. Follow me!"
Gail was then taken to the workshop where he was told to create a sitting toilet bowl in front of the other employees. There were gasps of surprise when the earth slowly rose into a shape of toilet bowl.
"It's done, Pops!"
"Okay, good work. Now you guys figure out how to mass-produce this."
"How about we hire this kid...."
"You fool!"
The man who said that got smacked on the head.
"He is the.... Just figure out how to mass-produce this!"
Hey, Dwan. You were about to say I’m actually the head of this trading company, weren’t you?
"Pops, I think we should hire potters."
"Potters?"
"Like pots and vases, we could make toilet bowls out of clay, glaze them, and then bake them."
“What about the shape?”
“If you make a mold out of wood or something, I think you could standardize the shape of the toilet. You still need to figure out how to fit the lid and seat, though."
“I see, so we just need to make a mold. Let's give it a try.”
"The rest is up to everyone to think about."
Having said that, Gail left the trading company.
Come to think of it, modern toilet bowls were made of ceramic, right? Or were they made of porcelain? I mean, what’s the difference between ceramic and porcelain?
It’s too late to look up the difference between them, and there’s no point worrying about it now. Let’s just be glad that we have a clear starting point, instead of fumbling around in the dark.
Nodding to himself in agreement, Gail finally arrived at his usual training ground.
“Do we still have any lumber left?”
“No, we used them all yesterday.”
“Then let’s cut down some trees around the training ground.”
Having said that, Miguel picked up an axe and Dan unsheathed his sword.
A sword?
Just as Gail thought so, a golden light enveloped their bodies.
I guess it doesn’t matter if body strengthening magic is used.
Miguel and Dan chopped down trees with a single blow.
This is way faster than using a chainsaw. Earth's modern technology has just lost.
After felling about ten trees, they cut the branches off, and then carried the logs to a spot near the cabin on their shoulders.
How much do those logs weigh? That’s not humanly possible. I guess these two don’t need heavy machinery.
“Hey, Dan. Can you turn this log into lumber?”
“Sure, no problem.”
*slash*
*slash*
*slash*
*slash*
"Is this enough?"
"Excellent. This much should be enough for today."
"Got it."
Miguel started cutting the lumber into square pieces with a saw. Meanwhile, Dan went off to make wooden swords for Bent’s training.
Okay, let's add an extra room for the kitchen. The room should be big enough for a stove, an oven, and maybe a refrigerator. I will also need a washing area. For now, I should just make the room big. Maybe around 8-tatami mats in size. Let's check my magic power before that.
【Magic Power】: 60/75
It's decreased because I made a toilet bowl before coming here. I brought some magic potions just in case, so let's get this done quickly.
*wrigle*
The earth slowly rose into a wall connected to the cabin.
【Magic Power】: 10/75
The height of the kitchen wall has already reached 1/3 of the cabin wall height. It didn't use as much magic power as I thought. Maybe it uses less magic power because I've started getting used to making walls.
Gail drank a magic potion.
【Magic Power】: 80/80
Drinking magic potion increases my magic power as expected. In addition, if you keep the status displayed, it won't keep consuming your magic power. That's another new discovery.
*wrigle*
Just a little more, but my magic power is almost run out.
Gail drank another bottle of magic potion.
【Magic Power】: 85/85
By the way, how much magic power does magic potion restore? For now, it's fully recovered, or rather, my total magic power has increased again.
Thinking that, Gail finished the extension.
Even though it's smaller and has one less wall, I've never thought I could finish it in a day when it took me a month to build the cabin. Magic is full of mysteries.