Cal returned to the farm, his mind still on what the overseer wanted him to do. He steps past the tree line and entered his field and saw some unexpected visitors.
Outside the farm’s borders, Miren and Torin huddled together, reviewing their shared notebook. He saw the Orrin and Seris, standing next to the house and staring at the two builders, whispering to each other with wide eyes.
Cal glanced over the field and saw his three new hires still working, using tools he recognized as spares from the storage room. His gaze drifted and locked onto Tavia. She waved at him as she sat near the pond with a book open before her.
Cal walked to her and greeted her with a quick kiss. “The new hires show motivation. I thought they would take a few days to finish.”
Tavia laughed lightly. “You should have seen how quick they were at the start. I had to tell them to slow down. I hope you don’t mind, but I allowed them to use the tools you had piled up in the storage room.”
“Not at all. I should’ve given them permission to use the spares before I left, but I forgot.”
Tavia nodded as her eyes shifted to where Miren and Torin were standing. “You should speak with Miren before anything else. They’ve been waiting here for a few hours.”
Cal saw the two builders so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn’t noticed him arrive. “It must be for the smithy. All right, give me a few minutes and I’ll be right back.”
He wasn’t even halfway to them before Orrin jogged up to him, Seris following close behind, and asked, “Apprentice Tavia said that they were builders. Are they the ones you hired to make a smithy?”
Orrin nodded eagerly and Seris tried to look interested, but failed miserably. Her eyes constantly looked at the area behind the house. Cal could sense Nibbles was there, working hard on making tunnels, and he knew exactly what Seris wanted to do.
“You,” Cal pointed at a startled Seris. “Don’t disturb Nibbles. If you’re bored, why not try some target practice?”
“But it’s not a challenge anymore. I can hit the targets with my eyes closed since I’ve done it so many times!”
Cal stared at her with a raised brow. That had to be an exaggeration since it hadn’t been long since he made the targets… then again, she was strangely skilled at shooting arrows. “I’ll make you a tougher archery range if you leave Nibbles alone.”
Seris perked up and nodded just as eagerly as Orrin recently did. “You got it, Cal! Target practice it is!” She ran off to the house to retrieve her bow and arrows.
Cal led Orrin to the builders and cleared his throat when he got close to make his presence known. Miren and Torin looked up before the latter greeted him.
“Apprentice Cal, you’re back at a perfect time. We have chosen the spot as an ideal place for the smithy, but there are some details will have to go through with you before ordering the material. Would you like to take a look?”
Cal glanced at the notebook and saw measurements and types of material for every detail of the planned smithy, and he knew almost nothing about it. The only thing he wondered about was the reason the smithy had to be built so far away.
“Why not build it closer to the house?” Cal asked. Orrin looked like he had an answer, but forced himself to stay silent.
“Cost savings. The smithy will create far too much noise when in use, and there are significant risks of explosions on top of that. There are materials we can use to dampen those noises, but it will take away the budget from other essential things that can improve the quality of life for a blacksmith. Of course, if you desire it to be closer, then we will shift our plans.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Cal looked at Orrin. “Well, the smithy is for you, so what would you prefer?”
“Far away is good.” Orrin couldn’t say that fast enough.
Cal nodded and addressed Torin, “What he said. In fact, what you discuss the details with him. I’ll give him the final say on any changes he wants, but keep it within budget.” He recalled the mental promise to splurge a little more after Orrin gave him the voidiron shovel. “Change that. You can go over by ten percent, but nothing more.”
Miren nudged Torin, who said, “That changes our material possibilities by quite a bit, but it won’t be a problem.”
Cal left them to it and returned to Tavia. He sat beside her and heard the pack leader huff in greeting. Cal patted the pack leader’s head. “I spoke to the overseer and Orrin can take that test next month.”
“Why do you sound unhappy about it?” Tavia sidled next to him as they watched Seris make patterns on the target with arrows shot from hundreds of yards away.
“Do remember the sinkhole that Elder Corvin mentioned?” Cal continued when she nodded. “The Overseer gave me a mission that contradicts Elder Corvin’s wishes. And apparently, Elder Corvin is backed by the Elder Council.”
“And you agreed to help the overseer,” Tavia finished for him. After he shrugged, she sighed. “What do you know about the sinkhole, another than the fact that too many alchemists are dying in it?”
Cal fidgeted before saying, “When you say like that, not much.”
“… When you plan to go?”
“Um, after I plant the next round of crops… so, maybe in a day or two?” Cal finished unsurely.
Tavia separated from him and stood up. “I don’t want you to go in blind. I’ll find out more information about the sinkhole, so wait for me to come back.” She didn’t bother to hear his reply before she climbed into her carriage and left the farm in quick succession.
… Tavia looked genuinely angry at me.
The more others spoke of the sinkhole, the more Cal realized it wasn’t a hole in the ground. Obviously.
Still, he didn’t think it was a big deal to enter the sinkhole with a lack of information, since he felt he possessed enough power to be unaffected by whatever was inside.
After all, Elder Corvin mentioned anyone too powerful would overwhelm the sinkhole and make it collapse. That was what gave him most of the confidence.
Cal listened to Tavia’s carriage getting farther away before he got up with a slight smile. No matter how he thought of it, he still felt Tavia was overreacting, but since it was out of concern for him, he couldn’t bring himself to be unhappy.
He approached his new workers as they plowed the replenished field.
“Apprentice Cal!” Bran stood to attention. He had been staring at Cal from the moment he returned to the farm. “We’re almost done with our tasks. Are you sure you don’t want us to plant any seeds?”
Cal quickly shook his head to dissuade such a disastrous thought. He had to be the one that planted the seeds to allow for [Green Thumb] to apply.
Plus, planting and harvesting the crops still gave him significant growth towards his [Primary Class], which had been stagnating. Well, at least in terms of his past explosive growth.
Bran’s expression dropped, suggesting his disappointment at not being able to do more work than he had already done. “But then what will we do before the crop harvest?”
“Improve yourself. The better your Class, the more it will help me. Well, it doesn’t even have to be your class. Learn more spells, become stronger, or anything that you think will make you better.”
Bran's eyes grew wider with every word the Cal said. It seemed like words were stuck in his throat as he nodded with an unsettling gaze. He picked up his plow and ran to Vaela and Liora before speaking with exaggerated arm movements.
Cal turned away when his three hires looked at him as if they were looking at something not human. He wasn’t looking to just hire simple workers that had no future. The stronger and more skillful the people who worked for him were, the more secure his personal power base was. It could all end up for nothing, but it was an expense he was more than happy to risk.
He went to the storage room and brought out a spare pickaxe and his primary wheelbarrow before heading to where Nibbles was building tunnels. He stepped out of the farm’s boundary and walked tens of feet away before nodding to himself.
This would be a perfect spot for a second pond.
Cal knew his first pond was a miracle. It had formed when he cast [Rainfall] and the excess water depressed the surface layer to end up in the state it was in. He could try to repeat those exact steps, but he wanted to try something different and see what would happen.
Instead of the surface layer, he was going to use the soil underneath as the floor for the second pond. It might not work at all, but it was worth a try. Besides, he had a shovel that he intended to upgrade as much as possible, and now was a perfect time to start the experiment.
Cal broke up the surface layer with the pickaxe, going through the motions of choosing the predictable upgrade path for all tools that he intended to sell Overseer Marek, and threw it aside after he had cleared enough. He pulled the voidiron shovel out of his storage pouch and sunk its blade into the rubble.
You have gained [Common Shovel (Voidiron): Excellent Quality] as equipment. It will be designated as your fourth alternate.