Novels2Search
Energy Farmer
Chapter 18

Chapter 18

With the ghost gone, Jacob didn't find it hard to explore the rest of the house. Calmly, he left the area of the middle bedroom and checked the two other rooms right next to it and confirmed his suspicions, they were exactly like the one in the middle, just much smaller and clearly- obviously meant for kids. Even the things inside reflected that thought, with the beds being either too big for anyone other than a teen or below as well as the few leftover toys and a closet full of kid-sized, albeit torn clothes.

Satisfied with his check, Jacob left the house's interior and started going around it, eventually, he found two doors bolted just above the ground to the side, dust he had to block with [Shield] came for his face the moment that he opened the doors, once the dust cleared, Jacob found in himself to walk in and ignore the creeping feeling eating at the back of his head, even if he encountered one earlier, there wouldn't be any ghost here.

The root cellar, surprisingly enough, was a bit wider than Jacob originally suspected, sure, it isn't as big as the living room above but... it was spacious enough. And it wasn't empty, either, the place was full of crates and wooden boxes, Jacob chose not to open some of the closed ones but the few that didn't have lids, he peered into. He saw that they were empty, not surprising, but he suspected that because of the holes at the bottom of some of them, these boxes were used to store vegetables and crops instead of regular, mundane items.

A brief inspection of some of the leftover firewood told Jacob all he needed to know about them: Filled with termites, dry, and are more or less dust instead of anything solid. They'd be useless, but maybe he can turn them into charcoal? How does that process work, anyways?

Jacob put the question at the back of his head for now and walked around the room, this time, choosing to go to the walls and see if they can still hold which, surprisingly, the concrete/mud-esque-melded stone walls of the cellar looked and felt relatively new and felt sturdy enough to hold for a few more decades or so. He couldn't tell accurately, obviously, but sometimes feeling and prodding a stone is enough, especially once you sense that said stone is still pretty hard when you press your finger against it.

So good on that, Jacob supposed, and moved on to the things that he'd been curious about for a while now.

The three shelves in the back corner had been the first thing that he noticed when he first got here and walking closer, Jacob saw the contents of the jar placed atop them, most of it is pickled (no surprise there,) though the water inside is even more yellowish than normal and worse, none of it is green so that means they're gone and inedible, by human standards, that is, a pig can probably eat it fine or better yet, the bacteria of a compost pit would just love the things inside of the jars.

Just to confirm though, Jacob picked on up, unsealed the lid and- "Yuck." - Immediately closed it... "Okay, that's definitely gone." Jacob says as he pinched his nose and placed the jar back up on the shelf.

And with that, the search is basically done. Jacob, concluding that as well, went back up the six-step stairwell and out into the open, airy fields where he didn't have to breathe in dust, cobwebs, and the stench of rotting vegetables left in salted water for too long. Way too long, come to think of it, pickling is after all, meant to preserve things, not just make them tastier and more edible.

Sauntering off to the edge of the field, Jacob sat down just below the hill that the windmill sat atop of, a few ways away from the river. He found a spot where the grass is relatively short and is free of any flowers, there, he sat down and looked at both buildings. The farmhouse was nice, if not decrepit and abandoned, it also has a few facilities that Jacob genuinely didn't think he'd consider when building a house in the medieval ages. the cellar, for one, was a complete miss to him.

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And then there's the windmill...

"What the hell do I do with you?" Jacob muttered as he stared at the massive thing, which, despite the strong winds, simply refuse to rotate its fans- a sign that the thing had clearly broken down and is in need of a dire fix. An expensive one. And one that Jacob can't afford yet with his remaining gold and silver coins.

Come to think of it, Jacob took out his pouch and started counting. After a while, he finished counting and ended up with 3 gold coins and 387 silver coins on the ground in front of him. It was a lot, truth be told, and definitely something he didn't expect to see from a bandit but remembering the way that guy acted back then made Jacob reconsider that thought because for all he knew, that bandit might've just done training all day and fighting when he wasn't training- and if that's the case then Jacob can see why the guy had a lot of gold with him.

'It's definitely way too much, though.' He thought as he put the pouch back in his pocket. He stood up, 'So, three gold coins and 300-ish silver. That isn't so bad, right?' Now he just had to go to the village and figure out how much hiring a bunch of construction workers would cost as well as how much the materials he's gonna be buying are. 'Yep. Definitely not bad.'

Jacob stared at the house one last time before officially leaving. Usually, to build something like that, people on earth would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and even when he's only gonna repair it, Jacob isn't feeling confident if he even can with his meager money. Well... that and he's also a [Mage] so should he abuse his status?

He shook his head and dismissed the thought, 'Definitely not.', it's worse enough that people view him as someone carrying a loaded gun at all times, him using the aforementioned loaded gun to... coerce them into giving him cheaper services and wares wouldn't end well in the long run. Not if he plans on staying in this village, at least. And he does, the plot of land and the house has already been bought after all.

Rumors of him buying the "cursed plot of land" by the "river" had already spread among the villagers when Jacob came back to the humble little place and when he heard that there had been a betting pool of when he was gonna "go back crying", he couldn't help it, he chuckled.

"S-sorry-" Jacob faced the one who whispered those words just now and waved them off.

"It's fine," He said to the old man, "Continue with your game, I don't really mind." He nodded to him and turned his head away from the four, half-drunken folks sitting on cut tree stumps playing some form of checkers under the light of the sun. He continued walking even when he felt their gazes burning his back, they were curious as to how his encounter with the ghost went, certainly.

Walking around the village some more, Jacob ended up back in the marble fountain he found himself sitting under the presence of the first time, and like back then, it was as calming as ever, though this time without the culture shock- a nice addition, if he were to be honest.

A bit of thinking later, he stood up, then with deliberately slow steps, he moved over to a young man who looked to be in his early teens, his clothes were different from the typical villager set in that he actually had a robe with him, one that had an insignia he couldn't get his eyes off of stitched on the left side of his chest, where his heart would be.

Jacob swore he saw the owl-like eyes glisten as he approached, and when he got closer, he saw that they were actually glasses with pupils at the center, that was the final clue he needed to know what, or specifically, who the teen in front of him praises. "Hello, are you an acolyte of Horos?" He asked politely, he hasn't seen the God's symbol yet but when Horos is basically being this obvious, he didn't really need to in order to know.

The young man snapped his head and Jacob saw the briefest glimpse of an irritated scowl before the teen schooled his expression, "Yes." He said, smiling, "I am, can I help you?"

Jacob nodded, "I also praise him and as someone who is also under the God's name, I would like to ask you if you know where the nearest... construction post is?" Jacob asked, skeptical of his own words. He was not really sure what he was talking about but since he didn't know if construction companies even exist here, he thought it was best to say something close to it. "I'm new here, my first day really."

The man reluctantly, and slowly replied with a nod, "Okay, but this isn't really a city so if you want construction workers, then you better go to the nearest merchant's guild, they're more versed in that and even have a union for some of them."

"Thank you," Jacob smiled.

"You are welcome. Happy to assist another one of Horos' students." The acolyte returned the gesture with an added bow, then left.