Chapter 5

When Lorcus woke up the next morning it was to the feeling of fur pressed against his body. He remembered getting a little drunk last night and falling asleep with Agarora but not spooning her. His morning erection was pressed firmly into her back, and he considered just how weird this situation was. Agarora was laying in an almost L position. His face was pressed into her furry back and the top of his head was touching her smooth skin back. Should I cuddle her human half to make this less weird? But then she would be laying on my legs and that would be painful.

Being as quiet as he could Lorcus put his clothes back on a snuck out of the room. Making his way downstairs he found Ralk cleaning. “Good morning Ralk, those planes walkers were good last night. I just remembered that I didn’t pay you for them.”

Ralk replied “I’m not surprised. What does surprise me is that you remembered at all. It doesn’t matter anyway, Agarora paid for everything.”

“I’ll have to thank her later but here.” Lorcus dug into his coin pouch and pulled out five experience coins. “I hope you will at least let me leave a tip.” Lorcus put the coins on the bar before walking out.

Once outside he stretched and yawned when a smell caught his attention. Is that pastries I smell? Like a moth drawn to flame he walked down the street until he reached a cute small house with wildflowers growing in the yard. Is this someone’s home or is it a business? He didn’t know but at that moment the wind carried the smell of coffee to him, and he was walking up to the door before he knew it.

“Welcome, take a seat anywhere and we will be right over to help you.” A young girl called out when Lorcus entered the room. It was set up like a modern café, so he sat at a small round table and enjoyed the atmosphere. There were towns people giving him curious glances every now and then but nothing hostile, so he relaxed.

The same young girl who welcomed him to the shop came walking over to him with a mug and asked, “Do you like verna water?” while she placed the mug in front of him. “I’ve never seen you here before so I figured you should at least try it once. Go ahead, take a sip.”

Deciding he had nothing to lose Lorcus took a sip. It wasn’t quite coffee, but it was close. Close enough for him anyway. I didn’t want to complain about not having coffee because every main character transported to a new world does, but this makes moving to a new world less daunting. “This is excellent, why do you call it verna water though?”

She looked pleased by his answer and said, “because it’s made from verna root. We take the root and boil it to get verna water.”

“That makes sense. You know where I came from, we had a drink like this but it was called coffee.” Lorcus said.

“And where are you from?” The girl asked.

Walked right into that one. “A small village, you wouldn’t have heard of it. I love what you have going on here but what is it? Is this your home? What do you make?”

She beamed at him and bounced on her toes “Yeah this is our home, well, it’s grandma’s home. Everyone loved her baking, so she decided to make this room into a café. We can bake just about anything but today we have pastry baked with honey and almonds. You can see it over there.” She said while pointing at another customer eating what looked like a danish.

“That would be perfect, thank you.” When Lorcus finished talking she smiled again and practically bounced into another room.

The girl came back a few minutes later with his danish and cheerfully said, “enjoy your meal and let me know if there is anything else I can get for you.”

Happy to have found such a lovely place, Lorcus began eating and planning out his day. It would be great if I could hire someone to cook like this for me but there is no way I can afford to pay someone at this point. I need to find out more about how expensive everything is here. With that in mind, I should visit that carpenter Deloris told me about, then return to Kate to grab those supplies. With her lending me the plow, potentially getting wood and the catnip seeds I should have enough to keep me going for a little while.

“How was everything?” The server asked when she returned to the table.

“It was all excellent. You’re not looking for a job cooking at my farm, are you?” Lorcus asked.

“No, I’m too young for something like that. Grandma would go crazy.”

“Do you know anyone who might be?”

“Umm, Yarva might be. Her husband died and she moved in with her daughter. The only problem is that her son-in-law can’t stand her. Keeps calling her a cock block, whatever that means.”

Lorcus thought. No food is worth having a cock block around. “I see, well that’s a real shame for the son in law. Just out of curiosity, how much do you think she would want to be paid, and how much do I owe you?”

The girl thought for a few moments and said “I don’t know. Grandma doesn’t pay me; she just says that I should be happy to have a place to sleep and a full belly. Your meal comes to eight blues.”

Lorcus reached into his pouch and pulled out ten blues. “I’m giving you an extra two for the great service. One more question though, I need to go see the carpenter. I believe his name is Freddy.”

“Thank you mister and I know Freddy. He usually comes here on the weekends. Just take the main road east of town until you reach the river, and you will see the mill.”

“You don’t have to call me mister, my name is Lorcus.”

“And I’m Margarete.” She dipped into a little curtsy before running off to the other room.

//////

After a short walk out of town Lorcus saw the sawmill. It had a water wheel powering a saw blade that bobbed up and down as a man pushed a log through it. It was a smart design with the log being loaded on a sled before being cut. It was then sent down a chute where a cart was parked.

Lorcus waved at the man to get his attention then looked around, waiting for the man to finish his task. There was wood everywhere, different types and sizes were either drying under the sun or stacked neatly in a long open air pole barn. Before he could go any further the man came over and introduced himself, “Hi I’m Freddy, don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before.”

Lorcus shook the man’s hand and introduced himself. “Lorcus, I took over as Console Commander at Gerards farm.”

“I don’t know if I should congratulate you or give you my condolences.” Freddy smiled and slapped Lorcus on the back. “I’m just messing with you, but really that’s an interesting position to be in. What’s this you have? Mind if I look at your staff? Looks like someone did a good job carving it.”

“Thank you, I had one to many near fatal encounters, so this guy was born.” Lorcus said handing over the staff.

“Great all-purpose weapon, a pain to carry around all the time though. If you want, I have a few strips of leather we could use to make a sling.”

“Sounds convenient but wouldn’t that make it harder to use while wielding it?” Lorcus asked.

Freddy replied “Nah, a few buttons and the sling will come off easy enough. Tell me Lorcus, what brings you here?”

“Have you been to Gerard’s farm lately?”

“Yes, I was there a few months ago. Gerard ordered some wood for the Console.”

“Good, so you know what I’m dealing with. I need wood to repair the fence and a new door for the house.”

Freddy chuckled, “Yes, I know what you’re dealing with. My advice would be to buy rough wood and sacrifice it to the console. It will lower the price of the repairs then let the console fix everything.”

“Wait, you mean the console can just fix the farm?”

Freddy explained “That is one of the benefits of being a Console controlled property. It’s expensive but not prohibitively. After all I would more than likely charge you more to make a door than the console will cost. As for the fence, that’s simple work, all you will need is a saw and you can fix it yourself.” Freddy walked over to the pile of wood he just cut. “If you sacrifice a log to the console and it is enough wood to cover the project it will give you a twenty percent discount. This green wood will provide a thirty percent discount. Above that is cured lumber that will provide a fifty percent discount.”

“What if I didn’t provide any materials to the Console? Would it just create its own wood to use?” Lorcus asked.

“No, in that case the Console would use raw resources within its range. In this case if there are no trees within the Consoles range than you won’t be able to make upgrades or repairs.”

“Lay it out for me how much will it cost me for rough and cured lumber?”

“Just for the door I can sell you rough for forty experience and cured for seventy. The fence is harder since I don’t know the extent of the damage.”

“I’d say there are five posts that need to be replaced and sixteen rails. I’m just gathering information at this point since Gerard left me no experience coins.”

Freddy scratched his chin before saying “I tell you what, I will give you enough rough lumber for the job and nails for the fence if you send me five logs.”

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Lorcus was surprised by the offer but not displeased, “I would have no problem with that, the only problem is that I have no way to get them to you.”

“Easy, just push them into the creek behind your field and it will get to me. Just carve an L in the wood so I know it’s from you.

“And how will I receive the wood? It’s too far for me to carry back to the farm.”

“I’ll give you a choice, either give me one more log or pay me forty experience coins and I’ll have it delivered.”

“Why so much? That’s the same amount that the rough lumber would cost.”

“You live on the other side of town, in the middle of the woods. It will take at least half a day to load and then transport the material to you. I use a third party and he charges by estimated time.”

“Alright, I get it. Since I’m low on coins let’s call it six logs, delivered.”

“Great, I will send the load to you as soon as I receive the six logs. Now that our business is concluded why don’t we put that sling on your staff.”

“That would be great thank you.” The two men started walking over to one of the buildings when Lorcus asked, “You seem to know a lot about Consoles, do you have one?”

“I do, it was hard to gather enough experience to buy it, but it has paid for itself over time.”

Reaching the building Freddy started tightly wrapping leather around both ends of the staff. “We will attach the buttons to these wraps then the sling will attach to the buttons. That should allow you quick access to the staff.”

Lorcus made approving noises and asked, “What kinds of benefits do you get from your Console?”

“Well, it started as a General-Purpose Console until I took the Loggers path. It gives bonuses to my loggers and speeds up production. I’ve even bought timber strike for some of my workers that allows them to cut a tree down in one swing with an axe. They can only use it a few times a day but that’s enough for us.”

“Can you tell me any more about the benefits? I’m trying to get a better understanding of what the consoles can do.”

“As you can probably imagine, a small town like this only requires so much wood but we have a lot of trees. So, I sell a lot of it through the Console’s market. Other Lumber-related Consoles have access to the same market so it’s easy to trade with each other. Trade Consoles can also access the lumber market, but they must unlock it first. They usually don’t bother unless there are no lumber related Consoles in the area. Then there are the usual stat boosts that we can unlock and of course we gain experience from cutting down trees within range.”

“That should do it.” Freddy said while handing the staff back to Lorcus.

“This will be a great help, how many coins would you like for the work?”

“Don’t worry about it, you can buy me a beer the next time we meet.”

The two men shook hands and Lorcus left for Kate’s shop.

//////

When he arrived, Kate was with another customer, so Lorcus decided to look around the shop. She mostly had everyday items needed for normal life but every now and then he saw strange things. One of which was a small skull. Curious Lorcus picked it up and examined it.

Why would she have something like this in her store? One minute I’m looking at pots and the next a skull.

“Like what you see?” Kate asked, popping up behind him and nearly causing Lorcus to drop the skull.

“Ugh, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry, it’s a habit from my old career.” Kate said with a smile.

“I bet.” Lorcus said skeptically. “What is this?” he asked while putting the skull in front of her face.

“That is the skull of a Seeker Bat.” She said while plucking it from his hands.

“And why do you have the skull of a Seeker Bat in your shop?”

“You really are ignorant, aren’t you? If you fuse the skull of a Seeker Bat with your Console it grants everyone associated with it night vision. Don’t worry though this little beauty is out of your price range.” Kate instructed while putting it back on the shelf.

“Wow that’s amazing, so any Console can be fused with something like this?”

“Not exactly, you need to unlock a slot for it first. Different Console types unlock slots at different levels. Then some consoles only allow certain types of items to be fused with them. It can be a pain to figure out but it’s worth it for a buff like that if you ask me.”

“It definitely is. Why do you keep something so valuable out here in the open?”

“People know not to steal from me.” she said with a vicious grin. “If they don’t know that, I like to keep little gems like this out to tempt them and then I smack them with a hammer when they try to take it. After doing that a time or two people know not to mess with me.”

Ruthless, Lorcus thought to himself.

“So, what brings you here today? It would be best if you didn’t come here to often, people might get suspicious.”

“Suspicious like us secretly fucking?” Lorcus asked with a wink.

Kate almost threw the skull at him but stopped just in time. She huffed and said “Suspicious like us growing and distributing illegal items.”

“Right, that… Anyway, that’s why I’m here to pick up the supplies.”

“I had everything sent to your farm this morning. I didn’t want anyone getting curious about the seeds or bottles, so I packed them with the plow and bed.”

“That works, there is one more thing I was hoping you could help me with. I need shoes.” Lorcus said while showing her his cut foot.

She gave him a toothy grin and asked in a baby voice, “are my little Lorcus’s human feetsies getting hurt?”

Not taking the bate Lorcus responded, “yes, they are. Where I came from people wore shoes and I would like a pair.”

“You’re no fun.” She huffed. “Come over to the Console, what kind do you want, wood, cloth or silk?”

“They don’t have to be pretty just functional and comfortable.”

“That takes out wood than. I’ve heard it’s not fun wearing them all day. With your budget that leaves cloth wraps.”

“That’s it? Nothing with a little support that will protect me from sharp rocks?”

“They sell these.” She said while making a hologram appear over the console of a nice pair of shoes. “The soles are made from a special type of bark that is pliable and waterproof and the top is leather.”

“Firstly, that hologram is awesome! Secondly, how much?”

“Pretty cool right. I unlocked this ability at level eleven. These cost four yellows.

“Ouch, I don’t have four yellows.”

“No shit, I told you, you wouldn’t be able to afford them.”

“Fine, at least I know how much I need to save up to buy them. If any pretty ladies walk in here looking to buy me a gift show them that, okay.”

“You wish, I’ll have them buy you a wooden cup so you can go begging around town for experience. Sorry, that was mean. I can be a little abrasive at times.”

“No shit, I think you flayed a strip of skin off my back with that one. Well, thanks for showing me. Maybe I’ll buy it when we start making money off the…” Lorcus looked around suspiciously before continuing, “Product”.

“You shouldn’t joke about it. If anyone finds out, we will be in serious trouble and the Count won’t go easy on you. You will solve all his problems in one stupid move.”

“Don’t worry, I know the stakes are high for me. I have no intention of becoming a slave and turned into the Counts whipping boy. Always leave on a high note my mom used to say, so I will tell you a joke then head back to the farm to get some work done. Do you want to hear a bad cat girl joke?”

Kate stared at him blank-faced.

“Just kitten!”

Kate rolled her eyes and said, “get out.”

//////

Approaching Todds farm Lorcus noticed him picking weeds in the fields and yelled, “Oye, Todd!” while waving at him.

“Lorcus, I heard you were here yesterday. Back from town so soon?”

“Yeah, it was nice to see the town and get a better handle on what I can do with the farm.”

“Get any ideas on what to farm?” Gerard asked.

“Actually, I was thinking about specializing in corn.”

“Corn, that’s an odd choice.”

“Yeah well, I saw a lot of vegetable gardens on my way into town, but corn is one of those plants where you need a lot of space to get a decent harvest. I just so happen to have a large field in need of a crop, so it seems like a good fit.”

“Not the most valuable crop, but a good start. Gerard even left you seed corn.”

“I was able to get access to a plow and will need to plow the field, but I have no animals to help with that. Could I rent your son and an animal for the day to help.”

“I have no problem with that, when were you thinking?”

“I was planning on doing it in two days if you agree. Would that work for you?”

“That should be fine. Now for the important part, experience. We’ll help you for… three hundred blues.”

Lorcus spent a moment thinking about the offer knowing he has very few experience coins. “You know I don’t have that many experience coins. If you’re willing, I will pay you one hundred blues up front and another two hundred and fifty by the end of the month.”

Todd reached out his hand and the two shook. With his business taken care of Lorcus continued down the road to his farm.

//////

Laying directly in front of the hut was all the items Kate sent earlier in the day. Lorcus took a running start and leaped onto his new feather bed. Damn, it’s good to be home. Now for some silk sheets and I’ll be living the life of luxury. Enough play lets get this all put away before night falls.

Deciding the most important items were the book and catnip seeds, Lorcus moved them into the hut and hid them as best he could in the hutch just in case someone came for a visit. Then he pulled the sheets and blankets off the straw mattress throwing them on the kitchen table before wrestling the straw mattress outside and storing it in the barn. Better to save this rather than burn it just in case Gerard returns. I will not be giving up my new feather mattress.

Next, he wrestled the feather mattress into the hut which was surprisingly heavy considering it was made from feathers. There he realized he had a problem; the old straw mattress was roughly the size of a twin mattress back on earth and the feather was approximately the size of a queen. Deciding there was nothing he could do about if at the moment Lorcus moved the bedframe outside and leaned the mattress against the kitchen counter.

The plow was exactly what Lorcus was expecting, a metal wedge hanging behind a large wooden wheel and two handles in the back almost like a wheelbarrow. On the ground next to it there were two harnesses, one for a human and one for an animal. It was easy enough to move without having the plow in the ground, so Lorcus moved it close to the field under a tree.

With everything out of the weather for now Lorcus looked at the old bedframe. It was simple, four legs and a rectangular box connecting them. Strung between the two long ends of the rectangle was simple rope that held the mattress up. Same as the straw mattress I’d rather not cannibalize this just in case it’s needed again.

Searching the shed Lorcus found the same style of rope used in the original bedframe and several pieces of wood stored in the loft. This looks like more than enough rope but not enough wood. I will have to get creative with this if I don’t want to sleep with the mattress on the floor tonight. Searching the shed he found a saw but no measuring tape. Does this world even have a measurement system? They must considering how impossible it would be to build anything if all you have to go by is this big. Lorcus thought while spreading his arms open wide.

I have enough wood for the four sides of the frame and two legs. Looks like I will have to nail one side of the frame to the wall. Grabbing two pieces of the wood Lorcus went back to the hut and measured the wood by the expedient way of holding it next to the mattress. Marking the length of the wood with his finger he used the bowie knife to score the length he wanted.

A few hours later Lorcus had the frame in place and pressed on the ropes experimentally to make sure it would hold his weight. The end product of his work was a frame with two legs attached to one side, the other was nailed to the wall with several small pieces acting as spacers. Without a drill to make holes Lorcus simply wrapped the rope around the frame. The only issue is that the bed took up almost half the space in the hut. Priorities being what they were he moved the half standing table and questionable chairs out to the firewood pile besides the hut.

Perfect, my first construction project in a new world with almost no tools or materials. With that Lorcus placed the mattress on the frame and made the bed with the sheets and pillows then relaxed on the bed eating a carrot and reading his new book on growing catnip. That’s interesting, according to this catnip reaches maturity within three weeks. I don’t know what it would be like on earth, but it can’t be that fast. Curious if this was something plant specific, he grabbed the book Gerard left and skimmed until he found a section about growing corn. “ Hmm, corn will grow from seed to maturity within five to eight weeks. I remember hearing that the growing season on earth is approximately three months. Looks like growing here is twice as fast as on earth. This book also says that corn is a high-demand moisture crop requiring a moderate amount of water to grow efficiently.”

Flipping back to the book about catnip he found that it was a drought resistant plant requiring very little water. That makes my idea of hiding the catnip in the middle of a corn field somewhat harder. That also explains why I haven’t seen any full fields of corn around here with their let the rain water it mentality. Perhaps I would’ve been well off just from the experience gained from selling the corn.