Chapter 10
“What was his problem?” Niall asked outside the shop. It was early afternoon, and the square had begun to fill as people paused their work and went off to lunch.
“You took him away from his work,” Rod shrugged, “and he’s just a grouch. Bring him some candy next time you see him, the guy is a sugar addict. I think he really likes rock candy, his gums must be bloody.”
“Why would I ever want to go back there?” Niall cried, he felt like writing an angry review and posting it on the shop door. Clothes are nice but service was negative five stars.
“Because you’ll have a hard time finding someone who can make better clothes than Haruki. Get on his good side and he’ll warm up to you,” Rod said. “Aye, Mahamat,” he called to a heavyset man with dark ash plastered to his face.
“Rod,” the man called back from across the square, “when are you going to make me that pizza oven?”
“When you finally pay me for that chimney I replaced,” Rod snickered. “Have you seen Ryu?”
“I saw him going toward the silos a few minutes ago and I’ll pay you back soon. I’ve a good feeling about the Flower Fair so start working on those plans.”
“Sure,” Rod called dismissively.
“Thanks for helping pay for the clothes by the way,” Niall said as they left the square, the silos began to pop into view.
“Don’t worry about it, it's just a couple coppers.”
“Thanks anyway,” Niall said. “I don’t know how I’ll pay for food though.”
“You’ll get paid in two days and Talia will let you set up a tab, but you’ll have to go without coffee for a few days,” he notes evilly. Niall groaned, earning a laugh from Rod.
“When’s this Flower Fair by the way? I keep hearing about it?”
“A week from now, next Wednesday. The Flower Fair is always the first day of May,” Rod explained.
“What is it?”
Rod shrugged, “a lot of people put up stands showing off flower arrangements. There’s food, games, and a few people come to visit from Ballast. I mostly just drink all day,” he winks.
“What's the point though?”
“I don't know Niall,” Rod said. “Don’t overthink it, it's fun. It gets everyone in the mood for the warmer weather. It breaks up the monotony for a lot of people. You’ll see.”
They approached the silos to find Dom showing Ryu around the site. He was in the middle of explaining how a series of pulleys and buckets were used to lift the different grains into the silos.
“Interesting mechanics,” Ryu commented, “it's much over my head though. Rod, Niall, nice to see you two. I hope you didn’t get caught in the little sprinkle we had.”
“No luck there,” Rod scoffed.
“Well, I’m going to guess you got a price from our friends at the mill,” Ryu said.
“We did,” Rod nodded, “but it's not good. The jackals want to bleed us dry.”
Ryu made a sour smile. “That's the one bad thing about a small town, everyone is a monopoly. Either way, let’s hear their price.”
Niall announced the price and he saw Dom balk then shake his head.
“It is exorbitant but what are we to do,” Ryu confessed. “However, it is within the discretionary budget.”
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“But it's outrageous,” Dom gasped.
Ryu held up his hand. “Instead of complaining, let's look to the future. If Niall is able to help with carpentry work in the future then the budget will have to go up anyways. Niall,” he said turning to him, “how long do you think it will take you to build the stable?”
“Well,” Niall said thinking it through, “it will take me a week to tear out the existing structure which can be started while we’re waiting for the lumber. There is probably a decent amount of materials that can be salvaged for smaller jobs. Give me another day to set the new support columns and another setting the plates and supports. A day to build the trusses and then another to set them. Add in a day for checking the framing and adding some trim boards. Finally, I’d give it a week for the roof and final touch. So three weeks all together to be safe, faster if I have Rod or Dom to help at some points, and I’ll definitely need them when I set the trusses.”
Ryu then turned to the two masons. Dom shrugged, “we can help with the grunt work but I’ll trust the carpentry to you.” Rod nodded in agreement.
“I guess that settles it then,” Ryu announced, “I’ll write up the quest and send it to you.”
“Quest?” Niall asked, confused.
“Sorry,” Ryu said, “quests are tasks that will show up in your soul book. You can offer them and take them from other people. They allow the quest granter to attach rewards and conditions to tasks and are an easy way for all parties to track the progress. You should have one already for your job as the town carpenter.”
Niall took out his soul book and mentally summoned quests.
Quests
Active Quests
Town Carpenter: Assist in miscellaneous carpentry tasks in the town of Silvermoss. Rewards: 2 silvers for each day of work. Duration: Repeatable. Quest will be removed if no work is done in Silvermoss for twenty five continuous days.
As Niall finished reading, a new section began to write itself in the book.
Quest Offers
Repair Silvermoss Stables: Rebuild the Silvermoss stables to the specifications presented to Ryu. Rewards: 2 silvers per day of work on the project for the first 15 days of work, can not be combined with other daily quests. Additional 1 gold upon completion of the project. Bonus 1 gold if the project is completed in 3 weeks or less. Duration: No time limit.
Accept?
Niall mentally accepted the quest and as soon as he did it rewrote itself in the active quests section of the page. This job could really pay off if I can keep it on schedule, Niall thought. At some point I’ll need to figure out how much it is going to cost to start a farm.
“Thank you for accepting the quest,” Ryu smiled.
“No thank you,” Niall replied.
“I will drop off the funds for the materials this evening, now if you all will excuse me I must get back to my own work.” He gave the three builders a short bow before leaving.
Rod turned towards the silos and whistled, “you got a lot done today Dom.” Niall turned and looked as well. The brickwork was at least four feet higher than the day before. The moist darkness of the fresh mortar contrasted the older brickwork.
“Yup, and I’m running low on bricks,” Dom noted.
“I’ll head back then and work on another batch,” Rod said. “Niall, are you good?”
“Yeah,” he said nodding his head, “I’m going to go back over to the stables and start demoing.”
“Sounds good, I’ll see you two later,” Rod said.
Niall said goodbye to Dom then headed over to his new jobsite.
Niall assumed there was no OSHA in his new world but he still was determined to keep a safe job site. The town farmers looked after the stables and he didn’t want to get in their way or hurt any of the animals. The horses and stables were owned by the town and most townspeople who had their own horse had individual stables at their home. Over the course of the previous day, Niall noticed that the stables were busy in the morning as the farmers saddled and ready the animals for the day's work and in the early evening when the animals were returned, fed, and cleaned.
Lucky for Niall, his worksite was at the very end of the barn and away from the general flow of people and animals. Using a few broken boards, Niall strung together a few signs. He found a bucket of old paint on the side of one of the buildings and wrote on each sign, “Warning, Construction Site, Stay Away”. Knowing how people are, he’d still have people wander around his site out of curiosity but at least he tried.
Next he staked off two areas, one for new materials and a second for salvaged materials. He wished he could have put up a temporary fence to further dissuade people from coming onto the site but he would have to settle for how things were.
Once he had the site organized, Niall spent a couple of hours dismantling the collapsed roof. Most of it had rotted away and was unsalvageable, however he discovered that beneath the roof most of the old lumber was still in good condition. Me made a mental note to ask Ryu where the waste was supposed to go.
Sweaty and tired, Niall headed back to the lodge.