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Short chapter today. I refuse to make it longer or inflate wordcount senselessly. Tomorrow’s Sunday so I’ll post another one then to make up for the shortness of this one.
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“Cardinal,” called Tenia’s voice over the cacophony, “Could you use Earth Magic to reinforce the tunnel while I drill it?”
“Of course!” Cried Reyes as he seemed to snap from his trance and rushed forward to her side, holding his robes in the wind.
Tenia’s air drill slowly burrowed into the earth, flinging detritus everywhere. To her side, Cardinal Reyes began weaving his fingers in front of him, as if he were some ninja from an anime I used to enjoy. Then, all at once, mana began to pour from his body. If only Tenia wasn’t next to him; he was, surely, shining like a diamond, but under the light of the sun, a diamond’s glow isn’t much.
As Tenia’s drill sank further, Reyes’ mana hardened the earth around it and even constructed support beams from granite. With the two of them working together, the mine’s initial tunnel was finished in under an hour’s time. Unfortunately we weren’t going to harvest White Lodestone today. Tenia was reluctant to let me enter the newly drilled mine too, afraid of potential collapses. It was also important to note that, if we harvested today, I’d have to store Lodestone in my [inventory] that I had so carefully kept hidden. Thus it was decided that the Adventurer’s Guild would begin supplying miners starting tomorrow.
“Ah,” suddenly spoke Kelding as he seemed to think of something, “Miss November, we never did discuss how we’ll deliver your orders of Lodestone. We know you have an encampment somewhere in the woods…”
“Kelding,” I interrupted, “I’m not a fool. I’ll have Benson or Tenia make a small road to my camp site. We’ll build a storehouse along the way where you can drop the stone off. You and your men won't be able to approach my base so we’ll take care of moving the Lodestone from that point forward.”
“Why won’t we be able to approach your base?” He asked with narrowed eyes, as if this was his true purpose all along.
“Kelding,” I said in a voice filled with fake amusement, “I thought your people [Analyzed] me already. Surely this breach of trust told you everything you needed to know, right?” I gave him a vicious grin before walking away with Tenia and Benson towards the east. I didn’t need to look at him to know what kind of expression he was wearing.
“We’ll come back tomorrow around noon,” I called back as I waved my left hand. “Have a wagonload of Lodestone ready for me by then.” Benson snickered while Tenia offered me a stern look of disapproval, but both held their tongues.
Within a few minutes of walking, we reached the edge of the forest on the eastern side of town.
“I’ll take care of making the road,” volunteered Tenia, “It’ll be easier with my magic to make a stable path than having Benson build one through physical power.”
“Then I’ll start building a small warehouse with the mistress just outside the edge of our repellent runes,” said Benson with an ecstatic smile as he gripped his sword, eager for the chance to cut something even if it was just a few trees.
"I'm fine with these plans," I replied, almost in a mutter.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"Then we'll be heading on ahead," said Benson as he met Tenia's eyes. She nodded in response.
Benson and I continued on while Tenia began unleashing her magic for the second time today. The earth began to shake and the occasional crash of falling oaks filled my ears. Things really were progressing smoothly.
When we found a suitable location, Benson immediately set about cutting down trees with a ruthless fervor. Each swing of his blade took down at least three. Then, as if they were styrofoam, he cut them lengthwise to make rough-sawed boards. If we used it now the wood, being fairly green, would shrink over time while it dried leaving gaps in the construction, but I fixed that problem easily with my [Dehydrate] skill.
We didn’t plan on making anything fancy. A simple shed would suffice. Using [Mana Cutting] and [Mana Sanding] I made several thick pegs from the excess lumber to hold the whole thing together. With Benson’s help and, moving at our highest speeds, we quickly put together a rather ugly storage shed. I used dirt hardened with my [Reinforcement] potions for the roofing to finish the job. Tenia, mowing down and flattening out a road, passed us just as we were finishing up. Both construction projects ended at roughly the same time, creating a vacuum of silence. The sky was growing dark, and the sounds of bugs and birds started to grow quiet as well. Faintly, I could make out the stars through the gaps in the canopy above.
“I’ll head back first to prepare some tea proper,” softly called Tenia as she vanished into the thicket ahead, accompanied by the rustling of leaves.
I stopped moving, just for a moment, to take a deep breath and genuinely think about things. The sweet soft smells of nature hit me, then. I had been here for a few days now but I never noticed it before. There was no dust from a trailer-park road, there was no smog from the paper factory downtown, and my neighbor’s cigarettes weren’t poisoning the air. My mind and my lungs were clear.
“The evening air is calming,” said Benson as he stood beside me, sweat starting to show through his fur. The physiology of a beastman escaped me. I honestly expected him to start panting…
“It’s nice,” I replied, a bit glad he noticed my mood. After a short pause, though, I added, “But it’s different from home.”
“Is different bad?” He bluntly asked.
His words struck a strange chord with me almost immediately. I still missed my home, my friends, and my family even if they weren’t perfect. At the same time, I did enjoy the feel of clean air here, and I enjoyed being able to see Tenia and Benson become truly real as well, rather than just be puppets for me to roleplay a demented version of ‘house’ with.
I genuinely thought about it, but I couldn’t think of a good way to answer his question.
“I don’t know the proper answer to that,” I replied, deciding to acknowledge my ignorance while considering it a wisdom unto itself. The woods grew quiet as all echo of my voice died. The rustling of leaves and Benson’s short breaths were all I could hear.
After a few moments or so, Benson muttered with a grin, “Sometimes silence, itself, can be the proper answer,” before walking away. His back seemed bigger, in that moment, than I remembered.