Much like the previous day this new one was wet and drizzly. Given the very frequent rains John was beginning to wonder if his crops might be getting too much water. Worriedly he picked up a handful of soil from one of the plots and gave it a good squeeze. Some mud squished out between his fingers but a larger portion of the soil remained in a clump. He gave it a poke with a finger and it mostly came apart. This, while not a perfect test, was a good indicator that the plot at least was draining well enough. That and the fact that he hadn’t actually ever felt his boots were in danger of coming off, indicated that the mud wasn’t a sign that the soil was waterlogged; even if it did get everywhere. Satisfied that his crops weren’t about to die from overwatering, he continued on with his morning.

The quick walk to the shrine revealed two new structures that were some kind of cross between a toll booth and an awning, allowing the knights to see the area around the shrine without getting wet while on duty. In addition, both the knights on duty this morning responded to his polite nod with nods of their own, a marked step up from the last batch.

The tree was well and seemed to be pleased with the amount of water it was getting, though he could feel a longing for the sun. It also seemed to be doing something odd with its roots. Following the paths of mana through it he could feel fifteen large roots stretching toward arches to either side of the entry; eight to the left and seven to the right. John wasn’t sure what the roots were doing, but the tree seemed to be spending a lot of energy on them, so he assumed it was important and thus didn’t interfere.

Finished with the tree he returned to his farm and took care of the chookers and then opened a large hole in the wall that led onto the road. Phillip would be by today with the barn doors and John didn’t want to sit out in the rain waiting for him; he’d prefer to be inside his house, where it was dry. He figured that leaving an opening in the wall would let the man (and anyone he had helping him) in and from there they could just knock on the house door.

That done he did a quick run around the plots, checking on the plants. There were some signs of aphid activity, but with all the rain any sulfur he put down would just be washed off, so he wasn’t sure there was much he could do about that. The mulch was working just fine to keep down the weeds; he had seen a couple in a few of the beds but it had been the work of moments to remove them. All in all, his plants looked good and for his final morning task he stopped at his experimentation plant and drained all his mana into it. After finishing with the plots he retreated inside to continue working on his domain.

It was some time later, around early afternoon, when a knock came on his door. John stood from where he’d been sitting on the floor of the main room, and opened the door to reveal Phillip who was holding a hide umbrella and looking a bit damp.

“Hello John,” the man said. “Nice little place you’ve got. I see you’re putting the doors to good use!”

“Yep! One of my better investments to be honest. I’d invite you inside but…” John gestured to the empty room behind him.

Phillip peered inside with a furrowed brow. “John, you know I sell furniture, right?”

John paused a moment to think about that. He’d been in Phillip’s shop several times now, and it hadn’t occurred to him even once to buy actual furniture despite it being on display. “I… didn’t think of it,” he admitted, finally.

The older man snorted in amusement. “Well, I suggest a few chairs, maybe a table. But that’s for later I suppose. For now, why don’t we go get your doors installed?” Phillip stepped back to clear the doorway and gestured to the barn.

John nodded and stepped outside and gestured, causing the lump of stone by the door to reform into his customary stone umbrella. He heard Phillip snort in amusement again, though the man didn’t choose to comment this time.

The walk to the barn was short and soon they were standing inside the dim, cavernous interior. Phillip looked around for a moment, taking in the stalls and then poking his head through the door to the creamery. “So,” he said with a little mirth. “Were you planning on putting doors in here too?”

John looked at the creamery door. He’d completely forgotten about that addition when he made the original order. “Eventually,” he hedged.

Phillip gave him a knowing look but forbore to comment further. He instead turned his attention back to the rest of the barn. “You’re going to need gates for these stalls as well, but I suppose that since you have no animals it’s not really a problem right now,” the small man said as he made his way to the back entrance that looked out onto the grassy plains.

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Finally finished taking in the sights, Phillip crouched down and started appearing items from his inventory. The first things he placed out were the long pieces that would become the door frame. He then proceeded to produce the four squares that were the upper and lower doors of the barn. Each square was around five feet in width and about four feet in height, which (taken all together) would make them the perfect size for the ten-foot-wide, eight-foot-tall doorway.

With quick deftness the carpenter made the final connections at the joints, then attached the hinges and locks. Finally finished he stepped back to reveal a fully functional set of barn doors, ready to be raised up and put into place. “Alright, we just need to get this up and into the doorway,” he said.

“Not a problem,” John replied even as he made a gesture. A half dozen lumps of stone rose up from the floor and folded themselves around the frame, two to a side. Then, with another gesture John used Control Earth to raise the door into opening and merged the frame with the doorway. He then smoothed out the now pocked floor.

“Oh, that was very good, quite smooth,” Phillip commented.

“I use Control Earth pretty constantly, it’s easily my most practiced spell,” John admitted.

“I suppose that makes sense,” the shorter man said with a nod. “Well then, on to the main event!”

With that, Phillip turned and moved to the other barn entrance and started laying out the next door. John followed him, eager to finally see what he’d purchased. After a few moments of work the pieces were all laid out and connected, and John walked around to the front to get a good view of the finished doors.

Upon the doors was a rendition of the plains during a thunderstorm. The tall blades of grass bent heavily under the blowing wind and driving rain. The dark clouds above gave an ominous and foreboding feeling and gave birth to a thin bolt of lightning in the backdrop. It wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. But John hadn’t paid for a masterpiece, and despite that it was still quite good.

“Well?” The older man asked.

“Huh?” John replied, looking away from the doors.

“What do you think?” Phillip prodded.

“Oh! It’s good, really good. But, why a storm?” John wondered.

“Because it’s really the first I heard of you, aside from the fact that you were one of the few who actually paid attention to Loren as she greeted you. You saved a lot of people a whole heap of trouble by giving us early warning. We’ve been known to lose all sorts of things during storms like that, up to and including pets and farm animals. We’ve never actually lost a person, mind you, but property damage isn’t unusual. This time though? Minor damage, a few lost shutters,” the other man said with a throwing away gesture. “So, I thought the storm was an appropriate image.”

John nodded. “I guess it is,” he admitted, and then used Control Earth to move the door into position and lock it there. He then drew out the eighteen silvers he owed Phillip and passed them over. “Thanks for the delivery and the help.”

“It was my pleasure, John. Now, while I’m here, would you like me to take some measurements for the stalls, and perhaps a front gate so that you don’t have an empty hole in your wall? Also, perhaps you’d like to order a couple of doors for that… what is it that’s attached to the barn?” The shorter man inquired.

“It’s a creamery, or it will be once I get equipment. And yeah, all that sounds good,” John agreed.

For the next few minutes Phillip took measurements of the stalls, and then the two walked out to the road, where he had John open the wall to about the size he’d want if he were going to transport anything large in or out, and then took another measurement.

“The stalls will come out to about ninety coppers, another silver for the exterior door, another fifty coppers for the interior door, and about two silvers for the front gates, assuming you want a gate that opens in the middle. So, three silvers and forty coppers,” he said finally. “They should all be ready in about a week at most.”

“Sounds good,” John replied. “I’ll see you in about a week then?”

“Looking forward to it!” the older man replied. “A good day to you then.”

“You as well,” John said, and then waved as Phillip started heading back down the road.

John watched the man go for a moment, then he closed up the hole in his wall and returned to the house, where he sat down and returned to saturating his land.